https://news.usni.org/2023/10/26/auk...ntory-says-cbo
AUKUS Sub Sale Will Cause 10-Year Dip in U.S. Attack Boat Inventory, Says CBOThe U.S. nuclear attack submarine inventory will experience a nearly decade-long dip due to the AUKUS partnership, according to a new Congressional Budget Office analysis of U.S. naval shipbuilding.
To support selling three to five Virginia-class attack boats to the Royal Australian Navy, the attack boat inventory will decrease in the mid-2030s, as shipyards won’t be able to deliver Virginia-class boats to absorb the loss of the sale to Australia.
The dip, estimated to start in 2037, will keep U.S. attack boat inventory in the high 40s to low 50s for about a decade, meaning the Navy will remain short of its goal of 66 attack submarines in the fleet.
CBO analyzed three scenarios, with the U.S. selling different combinations of new and used types of Virginia-class boats, all under the Navy’s first shipbuilding plan. The first plan, several officials have told USNI News, is the most austere of the three proposals in the annual shipbuilding blueprint.…
