The admiral who runs America’s submarine building program has confirmed construction is behind schedule and nowhere near the rate required to supply Australia’s Aukus nuclear submarines on schedule.
R Adm Jon Rucker told the Naval Submarine League’s annual symposium in Arlington, Virginia, last week that the US had “an exceptionally fragile” military shipbuilding base and could not meet construction rates for its own vessels this year.
In remarks reported by defence industry media, Rucker said a materials shortage had affected the sequencing order of manufacturing and slowed down the production rate. He appeared to cast doubt on his own timetable.
“I’ll be frank – there are some risks to achieving these goals,” Rucker was reported as saying. “We have done great things and we’ve made progress, but more is needed. This is our north star … This is the challenge of our time.”
The US Navy was meant to hit a production rate of two submarines a year in 2028 and must reach 2.33 to fulfil its commitment to deliver three Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarines to Australia in the 2030s, while also meeting its domestic commitments.
But Rucker, who is executive officer of the US attack submarine program, revealed it would not reach its most immediate goal of 1.5 by the end of 2024.
