Rear Adm. Thomas Ishee, director of the undersea warfare division within the office of the chief of naval operations, said that the U.S. Navy seeks to improve strategic deterrence and lethality, USNI News reported Friday.
Ishee told attendees at a Naval Submarine League event that the service seeks to plan its budgeting for strategic deterrence in line with potential funding changes to prevent diminished buying power.
He added that efforts to improve lethality may involve advanced command-and-control capabilities as well as sensors and payloads designed to support submarine defense against land, surface and subsurface targets.
According to Ishee, the Navy is seeking “advanced payloads†such as long-range kinetic weapons and next-generation electromagnetic warfare technologies. He also cited long-term goals such as an undersea test range and advanced Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines under the SSN(X) program.
The Navy is slated to receive its first modernized Harpoon anti-ship missile in fiscal 2021.
