Photo By Shelby Thompson | WASHINGTON –Vice Adm. Johnny R. Wolfe (far left), director of Strategic Systems...... read more read more
WASHINGTON - “Our Nation has a habit of overcoming challenges through hard work, ingenuity, and absolute dedication.”
Vice Adm. Johnny R. Wolfe, director of Strategic Systems Programs (SSP), kicked off the Naval Submarine League Submarine History Seminar Thursday afternoon with a vote of confidence for the future of the U.S. Navy and Maritime Industrial Base (MIB).
Representatives from across the submarine community and supporting partners gathered at the U.S. Navy Memorial on 24 April to recognize 125 years of the U.S. submarine force; honor the brave men and women who operate under the seas; and discuss how the U.S. Navy, including SSP, and its industry partners, will continue to combat current and long-term threats in today’s unprecedented security environment.
125 years ago, the USS Holland made history as the U.S. Navy’s first commissioned submarine. With a crew of only six, the USS Holland was an invaluable asset to the Nation, providing experimental data and engineering metrics for future submarine builds that have led to an unbroken series of submarine classes that have served the U.S. through over a century of wars, conflicts, and peace time. That same thread of technical ingenuity echoes through to today, particularly within SSP.
During opening remarks, Wolfe who is director of the command that provides cost-effective, safe, and secure sea-based strategic deterrence solutions, laid out how SSP’s role in providing weapons systems to the submarine warfighter is expanding.
“SSP is focused on supporting warfighters across the submarine force with sustainment of SSBN capabilities with the current Trident II D5 Life Extension (D5LE) system today and the modernized Trident II D5 Life Extension 2 (D5LE2) strategic weapons system for future deployment on the Columbia [class] from the 2040s,” said Wolfe. “For SSNs, we are developing regional strike capabilities including the Nuclear [armed] Sea Launched Cruise Missile (SLCM-N) and the non-nuclear hypersonic Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) system.”
SSP’s existence is intertwined with that of the U.S. submarine service. Since the first submarine-launched Polaris A1 test vehicle broached the ocean’s surface from the USS George Washington in 1960, SSP’s workforce has dedicated itself to putting the best weapons systems in the hands of the men and women patrolling beneath the waves.
70 years after the program was stood up in 1955, SSP still retains the cradle-to-grave responsibility for the submarine-launched ballistic missile system, owning every aspect of research, development, production, logistics, storage, repair, and operation support for the strategic weapons system. Today, that system is the Trident II D5 SWS - the pinnacle of American engineering skill and production excellence.
SSP’s support to the submarine service broadened in 2002, when the first of four Ohio-class SSBNs began their conversion to Ohio-class guided missile nuclear submarines (SSGN) as part of an effort to reduce the number of SSBNs to meet the United States’ strategic force needs as outlined by the 1994 Nuclear Posture Review. Within five years of the entering into the shipyard, the USS Ohio (SSGN 726), USS Florida (SSGN 728), USS Michigan (SSGN 727), and USS Georgia (SSGN 729) were refueled and converted into specialized warfighting platforms for forward deployment in support of combatant commanders’ tasking. Each SSGN is capable of carrying up to 154 Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles, providing unequaled strike capability, as well as unique special operations force projection capabilities. SSP provides critical support to these platforms, and their warfighters, by supporting the ship’s missile compartment, equipment maintenance, and any upgrades needed to accomplish the mission.
As a result of SSP’s history of success, efficiency, and concrete program management principles, SSP is now being relied on to lead the way into new areas of sea-based strategic. SSP has been entrusted to provide cradle-to-grave lifecycle support to the CPS and SLCM-N that will provide warfighters regional strike systems to counter new and emerging threats.
SLCM-N and CPS are being designed to be deployed on the Virginia-class. The integration of these weapons systems into the SSN platform requires a high volume of programmatic and engineering assessments to help define the requirements for shipboard integration. A strong understanding of the needs of the Navy’s SSN warfighters is critical to SLCM-N and CPS being designed and integrated with minimal impact to Virginia-class readiness and operations.
Through this increased program scope, SSP is broadening its support to the warfighter across the submarine service, and will provide the same dedicated support to Sailors on attack submarines (SSNs) as it has to the Sailors on SSBNs and SSGNs for the last 70 years. With each of these programs, SSP is continuing to put the latest technological, engineering, maintenance and warfighting capabilities in the hand of U.S. Sailors, ensuring regional maritime security and projecting peace through strength around the world.
The need for speed, technical rigor, and a reinvigorated Maritime Industrial Base was echoed by speakers throughout the seminar.
“We need to move forward, we need to move fast, and we need to get it right,” said Adm. Cecil Haney, former Commander of U.S. Strategic Command, as he urged Americans to keep the importance of the U.S. submarine force’s role in national security in focus.
The submarine force is the U.S. Navy’s top priority; the sea based strategic deterrence remains a cornerstone of national security policy in the 21st century, and is complemented by the regional strike capabilities that SSP is developing at pace.
The Navy Submarine League is a 501(c)3 non-profit that aims to provide charitable, educational, and scientific support of the submarine force through promoting awareness throughout American society for the need for a strong undersea arm of the United States Navy. This year’s History Seminar coincided with the debut of a new “Submarine Wall” at the U.S. Navy Memorial, an exhibit dedicated to the Navy’s submarine force and to the Maritime Industrial Base (MIB) that supports it.
| Date Taken: | 04.29.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 04.29.2025 14:03 |
| Story ID: | 496473 |
| Location: | WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, US |
| Web Views: | 48 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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