Increasing attack submarine production to necessary rates will take years, new CNO says

It will take years to boost production rates to needed levels for attack submarines, such as Arkansas , shown here being built at Newport News Shipbuilding. (Janes/Michael Fabey)

There is no near-term fix to boost production rates for attack submarines (SSNs) to meet the needed level, according to Admiral Daryl Caudle, who was confirmed on 31 July as the US chief of naval operations (CNO).

“The navy's focus has been [on] accelerating the submarine production rate through targeted Submarine Industrial Base investments to reach a rate of at least two Virginia-class submarines per year,” Adm Caudle said in written replies to lawmakers' questions released shortly before his 24 July Senate nomination hearing.

“These investments are under way across multiple lines of effort, including supplier development, shipyard infrastructure, outsourcing, oversight, and workforce development,” Adm Caudle said. “To set expectations, I believe it will take several years before these improvements will achieve the required production rate.”

For more information about efforts to build Virginia-class SSNs, please seeSpecial Report: US Navy's FY 2026 attack submarine spending plan seeks to anchor Virginia-class programme, advance SSN(X) .

The US Navy's (USN's) current requirement for attack submarines is 66, lawmakers noted. However, the navy projects that the number of attack submarines will fall as low as 47 boats in 2028 and remain below the 66-boat requirement until 2054.

The service and the industrial base are still struggling to reach production rates the USN says it will need to meet domestic and international commitments under the trilateral AUKUS pact with Australia and the United Kingdom.

As the Congressional Research Service (CRS) noted in its February 2025 report Navy Virginia-Class Submarine Program and AUKUS Submarine (Pillar 1) Project: Background and Issues for Congress