GDEB Working Hard to Stay out in Front of the Pack.

[gp100man]

GDEB is working hard to stay "out front", and "on top" to make our submarines the most advanced submarines on earth. My hat is off to the researchers, and builders. I hope they succeed.

http://navaltoday.com/2012/12/03/usa-gd ... hnologies/

The whole world seems to be arming up for a final battle(Armageton). I just hope the numbers crunchers do not put so much faith in technology that they don't have enough numbers of submarines.
However it appears that the USA is putting out submarines as fast as we can, that are well made, and technologically superior, which is great, but we live in a world where it seems so easy to steal another countries secrets. So, it would seem smart to me to have a just few more submarines than are really needed. Sort of a cushion so to speak. In other words, I'd rather err on the side of abundance, than come up short in an all out war.

[tom dougherty]

Re: GDEB Working Hard to Stay out in Front of the Pack.

I'd rather err on the side of abundance, than come up short in an all out war

Yes, EB is making very capable submarines, but the fact is they are now running $2 billion per sub. We do not have infinite monetary resources. It would be nice to have as many as possible, but the facts are there is a procurement cost and the then continued cost of manning and upkeep. So it is a balancing act for the total military budget. And, the F-35 (our other topic) is really eating up the defense budget, putting pressure on other programs. That said, the Virginias are being delivered below cost and ahead of schedule, and EB is considered the poster child for doing things right in meeting or exceeding program goals.

In case you want a comparison, the Los Angeles class was around $180-200 million per sub. Hence you could buy 10 LAs for the cost of one Virginia class sub in the 1980's.

Armageton

What the hell is Armageton? There is Armageddon from the Book of Revelations (also Armageddon starring Bruce Willis). But no Armageton...
If we do have your actual "Final Battle", it would probably include nuclear weapons. In which case it will be over in 2-3 days.

[PaulC]

Re: GDEB Working Hard to Stay out in Front of the Pack.

There is Armageddon from the Book of Revelations

While we're picking nits, there is no book of "Revelations" (at least not in the Bible). The final book of the New Testament is the "Book of Revelation", the title being taken from John's opening verse]http://www.subcommittee.com/forum/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]