Destroying enemy surface vessels and submarines, conducting "espionage activities" near enemy coasts,bringing powerful firepower to strategic areas, and launching deadly underwater drones are all tasks that the Navy hopes to see in the future - as the service plans to increase up to 32 attack submarines in just the next 15 years.

Overall, the addition of attack submarines represents the largest overall platform increase in the Navy's ambitious plan to increase the fleet to 355 vessels.

The inventory of combat troops will reach 301 by 2020 and 355 by 2034,"said Lieutenant Colonel. Kevin Chambers told Warrior Marvin.

The new navy submarine possesses a series of groundbreaking technologies aimed at paving the way for future maritime warfare; This includes more firepower, such as Tomahawk missiles and torpedoes, for emerging systems such asUAVandArtificial Intelligence SensorsIncrease electricity for navigation and ship defense.

As evidenced by the Navy's recent 30-year shipbuilding plan, the Navy budget seeks to implement a new plan to build three Virginia class attack submarines in the coming years. Among other things, this aims to address the anticipated shortage of attack submarines in the next decade. For a considerable period of time, combat commanders have expressed serious concerns about the continued low availability of attack submarines compared to the required number. The Navy leadership has been working with Congress to accelerate production.

The previous situation was that when the new Columbia class nuclear submarines began construction, the Navy reduced its annual production of two Virginia class submarines to one. Based on the previous Navy assessment, the department subsequently began planning to build two Virginia class submarines and one Columbia class submarine simultaneously.

Senior service leaders told Congress that the new Navy plan is to add three Virginia class ships annually during the "off-season" when Columbia class production is stalled.

There are many reasons why the demand for attack submarines is increasing. Compared to large draft surface vessels, underwater vehicles are typically able to perform reconnaissance missions closer to the target. Forward positioning allows them to be "more concealed" in coastal areas,entrances, or islands. As part of it, they can also move a large amount of firepower closer to inland targets in the form of Tomahawk missiles.

The navy not only adds powerful firepower to its attack submarine fleet, but also further emphasizes enhanced "espionage" such as intelligence,surveillance, and reconnaissance missions. By utilizing the ability to be closer to enemy coastlines and threat areas than most surface vessels, attack submarines can quietly patrol shallow waters near enemy coastlines - scanning for enemy submarines, surface vessels, and coastal threats.

Improved underwater navigation and detection technology, utilizing new sonar, enhanced computer automation, and artificial intelligence, can achieve quieter and faster movement in coastal waters where enemy landmines, small boats, and other threatening assets are frequently active.

The design of the Virginia class submarine has the capability of "fly by wire",allowing the ship to quietly linger in shallow waters without needing to surface or be controlled by human operators for every small movement.

The Navy project manager told Warrior Maven that with the help of "fly by wire" technology,human operators will command depth and speed, allowing software to guide the movement of the aircraft and rudder to maintain heading and depth. These ships can be primarily driven through software code and electronic devices, freeing up time and energy for operators who do not need to manually control every small action.

The most important feature of maneuvering in coastal waters is the electric control system, where the computer in the control center adjusts the submarine's control surface electronically, resulting in significant improvements compared to the hydraulic system used in the Los Angeles class,"Alexander Yachanin wrote in his 2016 Stanford University paper" The Future of Nuclear Submarines.

This technology utilizes upgradable software and rapidly growing artificial intelligence applications to greatly expand the ISR potential of attack submarines and broaden their mission scope. By utilizing real-time analysis and the real-time capability of organizing databases with large amounts of information and sensor inputs, computer algorithms can now execute a range of program functions that have historically been performed by humans. This can improve maneuverability and the ability of attack submarines to quickly change course, speed, or depth positioning when facing attacks.

The naval strategy document explains that closer or coastal underwater advantages can increase the potential for "shore based attack" missions and ISR authorized anti submarine and anti surface warfare operations.

In last year's publication of "The Intentions of US Submarine Force Commanders," the US Navy wrote, "We have unique capabilities in stealth,stealth, and independent operations, often the best... We leverage the advantage of underwater stealth to enable us to: conduct undetected operations such as strategic deterrence patrols, intelligence gathering, special operations force support, non provocative transits, and repositioning

Navy officials say that the Navy is implementing elements of this strategy through its recently launched USS South Dakota, a Block III Virginia class attack submarine that utilizes a range of unprecedented new underwater technologies.

Many of these innovations have been tested as prototypes for many years and are now being put into use with the commissioning of the South Dakota aircraft carrier; Overall, service technology developers have stated that advances in underwater technology built, integrated, tested, and now in use in South Dakota include cabin quieting technology, making submarines more difficult to detect, new large vertical arrays, and other Navy officials telling Warrior Maven about the "quiet" coating material for the hull.

The Block III Virginia class submarine is also equipped with a so-called large caliber bow shaped conformal arraySonar system——Intended to monitor sound waves,analyze return signals, and provide the location and possible profile of enemy ships, submarines, and other threats.For the construction of Block V, the Navy is planning to insert a new 84 foot long section aimed at accommodating additional missile capabilities.Virginia Payload ModuleThe Virginia Payload Module will increase the submarine's Tomahawk missile firepower from 12 to 40 in the coming years.

The VPM submarine will have an additional (approximately 84 feet) section with four additional Virginia payload tubes,each capable of carrying seven Tomahawk cruise missiles, for a total of 40 Tomahawks.