Non-Subscriber Extract
USN SSGN conversion gains support, funding
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| 7 August 2001 |
By David C Isby with input from Scott R Gourley
The
US Navy's (USN's) proposed SSGN programme - the conversion of up to four
Ohio-class ballistic missile nuclear submarines (SSBNs) that have to be
withdrawn from service under arms-control agreements to cruise missile and
special forces platforms - now appears more likely to be funded. However,
the programme's size remains uncertain. In addition to long-standing supporters within the USN submarine branch and in Congress, the SSGN programme recently received additional high-level support from President George W Bush. It was the only future programme specifically identified by the President in a speech on national security on 25 May. The programme has also been endorsed by a military transformation panel, instigated by Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld.
The programme has another ally in Lieutenant General William P Tangney, Deputy Commander in Chief for US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). Speaking before a mid-July special operations conference sponsored by the Association of the US Army, Tangney said "We have advocated, with the Navy, for the conversion of four SSBN Ohio-class submarines..."
Tangney noted that the SSGN conversion would include internal modification "so that we've got the space and capacity to have a maritime, submerged, Joint Task Force headquarters and also the ability to carry large numbers of 'operators' in certain types of missions". The SSGN, he said, "would give [us] a true worldwide capability", adding "it would appear that's going to happen."
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