Another question to ponder is whether the USN will foresee the need (pending evaluation results of the Virginias I guess) the need for an AIP SSK. I know they've borrowed a few Euro-boats to test ASW against but it wouldn't hurt to have a couple handy for brown-water ops.
That being said, if the Virginias and Seawolfs can handle brown-water ops well then there is no real need other than for ASW training, I know the Skipjacks used to do their fair share of Murmansk lurking, I guess the Seawolves do a similar task these days or earlier 688i's.
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