Mini-Submarine Promises Dry Delivery for SEALS

Sea Power,  Feb 2005  by Burgess, Richard R

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

Slow Start for SEAL System

The Advanced SEAL Delivery System offers covert and persistent capability not found in other platforms.

* Mini-sub development delayed by cost and technical issues.

* Congress positive on capabilities, concerned with cost.

* Submarine production experience not incorporated in design.

"The capability is greater than we ever expected," said a former government official familiar with the Advanced SEAL Delivery System (ASDS), a mini-submarine being developed by Northrop Grumman to covertly transport special operations forces from a submerged submarine to a shoreline or harbor and back.

"There is no substitute for this capability," he said. "It is both covert and persistent."

But fielding that capability has proven to be frustratingly slow, and low-rate initial production has yet to be authorized. Work on the project began in 1994.

The 60-ton ASDS is capable of docking over the hatch of a submarine, bringing aboard 16 SEALs and their equipment and delivering them to the insertion point. The SEALs would arrive dry and relatively comfortable and rested for their mission. The ASDS represents a great improvement over the Swimmer Delivery Vehicle, a 22-foot-long submersible in which SEALs must wear SCUBA gear, arriving at the insertion point wet and tired.

The first ASDS became operational from its base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in 2003 and last year completed its first deployment onboard an attack submarine, the USS Greeneville, to the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf as a unit of Expeditionary Strike Group One.

"It has been used operationally to great advantage and has proven successful," the official said.

But it has yet to be joined by other ASDS units, as the program has been slowed by escalating costs and technical problems. A Congressional Budget Office (CBO) study issued in 2003 cited two major technical problems: noisy propellers and silver-zinc batteries that depleted more quickly than planned.

A new propeller made of composite material has been developed to rectify the noise problem. Development is under way on lithium-ion batteries to replace the silver-zinc batteries and enable the electrical system to meet the Navy's requirements. Yardney Technical Products of Pawcatuck, Conn., has been awarded a $44 million contract modification to provide four lithium-ion batteries for the ASDS program by May 2009.

In the original design, defense planners envisioned the cost of an ASDS at $80 million, but the official said it has now reached $320 million.

"We can't afford a $320 million ASDS," he said.

The 2003 CBO report said the cost of the program was expected to rise to $527 million, but the official's latest estimate of unit cost would put the purchase of six units at a total of approximately $2 billion.

He sees the members of Congress as very positive on the capabilities of ASDS, but that there is "considerable disappointment with the cost."

He attributed the increased cost in part on flawed decision-making in its procurement. "ASDS is really a little sub, but it wasn't built by a submarine builder," he said.

He said subs built by Electric Boat and Northrop Grumman Newport News were designed to be serially produced. The first ASDS is one-of-a-kind design by a company division that had never built a submarine. The ASDS, he noted, uses a bolted hull design rather than the welded hull used extensively in sub production.

Northrop Grumman and the U.S Special Operations Command did not respond to requests for comment for this article.

The source suggested that the industrial experience of the submarine industry be tapped to improve the efficiency of production of ASDS. He also recommended that the first ASDS be considered a proof-of-concept vehicle, and that follow-on units incorporate lessons learned and be designed for serial production. He sees movement on the part of the builder to take advantage of submarine production experience.

"To be effective, any capability has to be available," the former official said. "When you have one, it's not [always] available."

With only one unit, maintenance and other down time makes it unavailable, and it cannot be two places at once.

He believes the right number of ASDS units required is "probably around eight." The Navy has stated a requirement for six units, but that was established before it decided to convert four Ohio-class ballisticmissile submarines to guided-missile submarines (SSGNs) with the additional mission of support of special operations forces. Each of the SSGNs will be capable of carrying two ASDS units.

"The SSGN makes a persuasive case for the ASDS," he said.

Two Los Angeles-class attack submarines have been modified to deploy the ASDS, and the new Virginia-class attack submarine is being built with the inherent capability to deploy the mini-sub. Planners originally intended the two pilots for the ASDS include one submarine officer and one SEAL. So far, the first ASDS has been piloted by two submarine officers.

By RICHARD R. BURGESS, Managing Editor

Copyright Navy League of the United States Feb 2005
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved