Navy

New Intelligence On The Secretive Next Generation British Attack Submarine: SSNR

Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) is finally catching up with the Royal Navy’s unspoken submarine project; the one to succeed the Astute Class attack submarine. On November 23 defense company BAE Systems advertised a job in Barrow-in-Furness where British submarines are built. The advert is now closed, but the information contained is of great interest. And all because of just one word: SSNR.

The role description included “...to work different stakeholders across the Astute, Dreadnought and SSNR programmes.” Defense watchers will recognize the first two projects. The Astute Class is the Royal Navy’s current attack submarine, and the Dreadnought is the new Trident missile boat. But SSNR?

SSNR, also written SSN(R), is the submarine class intended to follow the Astute. 'SSN' is the NATO designation for nuclear powered attack submarines, such as the Astute Class and U.S. Navy’s Virginia Class. ‘R’ is a family code-name. It is part of the Maritime Underwater Future Capability (MUFC) program to develop “future capability requirements and develop options to perform operations and tasks within the underwater environment when the current Astute Class Submarines leave service.”