By Geoff Fein
Any discussions as to whether the Navy’s next cruiser should be equipped with a nuclear propulsion plant is akin to putting the cart before the horse, a top Navy official said.
“In some ways we may be getting the cart before the horse in the discussion of nuclear versus non-nuclear,” Adm. Kirkland Donald, director, naval nuclear propulsion, told Defense Daily in an interview this week.
The Navy is still going through the CG(X) Analysis of Alternatives (AoA), that among other things looks at weapons systems, hull types and propulsion options.
“There is still work the Navy needs to do to make sure that the warfighting requirements are fully defined,” Donald said.
For example, the Navy needs to match the senor and weapons capability to those requirements and determine that the mission is correctly defined to the ship, he added.
Once the Navy knows what capabilities it needs from a radar perspective and weapons system perspective, then officials can begin discussing what type of ship, what size of ship, what hull form do they want, Donald said. “Once you know that, you [look] into propulsion [systems].”
“We tend to be toward the end of the discussion. In some ways the discussion has gotten in front of some of these other issues that need to be resolved,” Donald said. “Believe me, there is significant work going on right now to get those initial steps taken care of. And then you can have an informed discussion about the type of ship and the propulsion system that you want.”
Additionally, the cost of CG(X) will also have to be considered in any discussion of adding nuclear power to a surface combatant, he added.
Another issue for the Navy is whether it will have the personnel to take on the operation of a new nuclear-powered platform. Donald said he is confident he can meet the demands of the nuclear Navy.
“We are always mindful of the training of the operator because it is so important to what we do in our business,” he said. “We have a long history of investing in that training of the folks that come into our business. We have a long history of doing it and doing it well and successfully.”
Donald said the Navy has looked at it from a preliminary point of view and found they have the capacity and the training pipeline to deal with what would be required to train operators for a nuclear surface combatant.
“I am confident we can provide operators, if that’s the way the Navy chooses to go,” he said. “We will continue to train them and are always looking for ways to better train them. That’s part of what we do, that’s my responsibility. I am confident we can meet the needs of the nuclear Navy if that is what it is they want.”
But there is a bigger issue for Donald than making sure he has the personnel to meet the challenge of running a nuclear cruiser. Finding well trained and technically savvy folks is a national issue that needs more attention, he noted.
“If you look at how we are producing technically educated and savvy individuals now, whether it is college graduates, masters programs or PhD programs, I don’t believe we are doing enough of that in this nation,” he said. “So it is not just a matter of the challenge we face in the nuclear propulsion program; sure it is a challenge, it always has been a challenge and always will be a challenge. But this is a bigger national issue because we want to maintain that technological advantage and we want to be able to do these types of jobs. So there is a broader issue here for the nation to deal with.”
Because the Navy today relies more and more on sophisticated technologies, it will require sailors who more adept with those systems, Donald added.
“We are a more technologically advanced Navy than we were five years ago, 10 years ago, and that’s not going to stop. We are going to continue to advanced technology in the Navy and we are going to continue to need young men and women who understand the technology,” he said.
Those men and women are going to have to not only use the technologies as they were designed, but what the Navy is finding now is that when technology is placed in the hands of young sailors they will figure out ways to use that were never even planned on, Donald said.
“They will figure out better ways to employ it, new ideas, tactics and things of that sort,” he said. “We want them to be able to do that.
“I firmly believe you have to have a firm technical base to be able to understand it, and understand the capabilities and limitations of that technology,” he added. “Is it a worry? Worry probably isn’t the right word, but it’s something we are thinking a lot about and we are paying a lot of attention too.”
The Navy recognizes it is also going to have to compete in the marketplace for these folks to join the Navy…what Donald referred to as “our business.”
“We think we have a pretty darn good product to offer. We train them well, develop that skill in them that they can carry forward whether it’s in the Navy or not in the Navy, which is good for the Navy and the nation,” he said. “We just have to show that we have a pretty good opportunity for them. Not just from the skills that we teach them, but from the leadership opportunities for doing something for the nation…about service…those kinds of things.”
Donald acknowledged it’s a challenge, the same challenge the shipyards are facing.
“We will compete for those electricians, pipe fitters, welders, those types of people who do that skilled work. But that shouldn’t discourage us from advancing the Navy technically,” he said.