16.10.2011 - 18:46 [ Military Times ]

Subs may serve attack, guided-missile functions

n only eight years, the Navy will need to begin building a new class of ballistic-missile submarines. Not long after that, in the mid-2020s, a new attack submarine class is scheduled to be developed. And by the back half of the 2020s, the fleet’s four guided-missile submarines will be worn out and need replacement — and with them will go nearly two-thirds of the sub fleet’s cruise-missile tubes.