U.S. Navy Concerned: Ballistic Missile Submarines Vulnerable to Drone, Rocket Attacks

Beneath the expansive ocean depths, America’s ballistic missile submarines are nearly untouchable.

However, when docked or navigating on the surface to enter or leave a port, these vital yet vulnerable vessels are easy targets for threats like drones, mines, and even anti-tank rockets.

Scenarios straight out of a suspense novel are now unfolding in reality. For instance, Ukraine has reported the successful use of an underwater drone to strike a Russian submarine at the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk last year. Additionally, guerrilla forces or terrorists could potentially target unsuspecting submarines using guided missiles or portable anti-tank weapons along shorelines.

In response to these emerging threats, the U.S. Navy is advancing its methods to safeguard its missile submarines and the onshore facilities that support them.

The defensive strategies being developed involve “prototype technologies to detect, track, identify, deny, and defeat unmanned systems across all domains,” as per a recent Sources Sought notice. This initiative calls for scalable solutions that can be applied not only to shore-based installations but also to maritime operations in Ports, Harbors, Littoral, and Waterways (PHLW) as well as the open ocean.

Additionally, the Navy is exploring options to securely escort its missile submarines during their transit in and out of ports.

The objective, according to the announcement, is to “guarantee the infallible secure movement of strategic maritime assets.” This includes advanced maritime situational awareness, physical security enhancements for escorting SSBNs (nuclear missile submarines), and technologies to detect and counter maritime mines, and to thwart kinetic threats like shore-fired anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) during transit through PHLW.

The risk of anti-tank weaponry extends to land as well, targeting truck convoys that transport ICBMs to submarine bases. The Navy is considering active protection systems, which involve sensors and defensive launchers mounted on armored vehicles to neutralize incoming threats, for use in ground transport and convoy operations of strategic weapons and equipment.

The Sources Sought notice, outlining 22 “focus areas” under the Navy’s Strategic Systems Program, also highlights the need for sensors to secure harbors. Furthermore, the Navy is interested in deploying security robots, including Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) for waterside patrols, Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) for perimeter defense, and robotic inspection systems that integrate with current response forces.

Artificial intelligence poses additional challenges in the form of drone swarms or cyber warfare.

To counteract these threats, the Navy is looking into countermeasures that focus on defeating autonomous swarms, disrupting AI-enabled Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) aimed at nuclear facilities, and strengthening the security of strategic networks against AI-driven cyber-physical attacks or spoofing.

The most effective defense for submarines is to remain undetected. To this end, the Navy is seeking prototype technologies that can mitigate the generation, radiation, propagation, and scatter of various signal types—including acoustic, chemical, optical, electromagnetic, radiological, hydrodynamic, and cyber—associated with submarine and unmanned system operations, for both peacetime and wartime scenarios.