Submarine arms race seen heating up in Indo-Pacific amid ‘great threat’ from China
- US Indo-Pacific commander told Senate panel America needs to strengthen underwater advantage in region
- Military analysts say US could send more nuclear attack submarines and encourage regional allies to upgrade their fleets
The submarine arms race in the Indo-Pacific is heating up, military analysts said after the US Indo-Pacific commander told a Senate panel that America needed to strengthen its underwater advantage in the region.
Admiral Phil Davidson told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday that Chinese technological advances had been cutting into the US military advantage in the air and in space.
But he stressed that the US still held an advantage when it came to submarine forces.
“Continuing to build submarines is critically important,” Davidson told the panel. “It is our most significant advantage in all domains right now.”
Hong Kong-based military expert Song Zhongping said Davidson’s remarks suggested that the US would send more nuclear attack submarines (SSN) – such as Virginia-class and Los Angeles-class subs armed with torpedoes, anti-ship and Tomahawk missiles – to the region.