Steve Balestrieri
Key Points and Summary – Air-independent propulsion (AIP) submarines keep “sinking” U.S. aircraft carriers in exercises, and the reason is simple: they are brutally quiet, cheap, and deadly in coastal waters.
-This piece explains how AIP systems like Sweden’s Stirling-powered Gotland class can stay submerged for weeks, evade layered defenses, and repeatedly infiltrate carrier strike groups—as they did against USS Ronald Reagan.
(Feb. 25, 2019) The aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) transits the South China Sea at sunset, Feb. 25, 2019. The John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group is deployed to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations in support of security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Ryan D. McLearnon/Released)
-It walks through AIP technology, cost comparisons with U.S. nuclear boats, Sweden’s next-gen A26, and China’s Yuan-class subs, and asks whether the U.S. Navy—facing shrinking attack sub numbers—can afford to ignore this threat and opportunity much longer.
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