IMPROVED SSN-688 Admiral DEMARS. Part of the issue we have been discussing is whether we have fully improved the 688-class submarine so that we would be warranted in moving on to a new class of attack submarines. We think we have improved the SSN-688 Class as much as the existing hull form and capabilities of the submarine will accommodate. I will go through this quickly. The improved 688 has a vertical launch system, 12 Tomahawk missile tubes in the bow, and a new navigation system ———. In fact, as a measure of how much we have improved this submarine, we have invested $1.6 billion in research and development on the 688's since they initially went to sea in 1976. This represents about a 25 percent capital improvement per submarine. We have expended the margin of the hull. In order to keep up with the threat, we have to move on then to a new class of submarine. AKULA I think you are aware of discussions involving the AKULA, the newest Soviet submarine and whether it is an indication that we were behind and should negate all our work and possibly cause us to rethink what we have done with the new SSN-21 submarine. but we feel confident in our assessment of the AKULA today and we feel confident in meeting the threat. It is not a technological surprise, and we feel we have the threat in hand and can design a new submarine to thwart it. [Slide follows:] 2 SUBMARINE KILL RATIO Admiral DEMARS. This slide is a simplistic attempt at showing why we need the new submarine. Using something called submarine kill ratio, the kill ratio results from putting two submarines together in a certain geographic area and having them fight against each other repeating this process many times, and then counting the number of submarines that get killed on one side versus the other. The quotient of these "kills" is the kill ratio. This shows over the years-in the sixties, we had an overwhelming advantage with our 637 class against the first Hotel, and Echo class submarines. After we had moved into our next class, the 688, and the Soviets started improving their submarines, the kill ratio dropped. This is a very subjective analysis, amounting to what we learn from our own operations and war games, about what the war games and operational analysis tells us. We predict that as our submarines operate against the best projected threat, we will have a kill ratio of something less ———. If we didn't do anything different, because we are outnumbered and have to fight in their home waters with our strategy, we would not be able to carry our share of the strategy. [CLERK'S NOTE.-Classified slide removed.] SSN-21 We are confident we will restore the kill ratio with the SSN-21 back to that which we enjoyed in the early sixties. The reason this will come about is the ability to start with a completely fresh sheet of paper and design a submarine, not just upgrade the existing hull form. We start off with a brand-new propulsion plant, a different hull form, with more weapons than any other submarine the 688 class. over Superior fire power, with sonars that are absolutely tactically superior to that which we have today that all work together through a new combat system. It will be the quietest submarine ever built and have the highest tactical speed of any submarine we have ever built. [Slide follows:] |