Supporting the U.S. Navy’s Operational Availability Through Reliable Products and Sustainment

For several years, the U.S. Navy’s operational availability has been declining due to maintenance needs of its nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs). According to a report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS), 37% of the Navy’s nuclear-powered attack submarines were unavailable for service in 2023 due to depot maintenance or boats awaiting maintenance. This is almost twice as many boats in maintenance as the Navy considers industry best practice (20% of the fleet). In addition, the AUKUS security partnership is expected to put further stress on the U.S. submarine industrial base, as Virginia-class submarines are proposed to be sold to Australia.

To help alleviate ongoing capacity issues within the four public shipyards as communicated by the Navy, Moog has increased its capacity for sustainment in support of the submarine fleet, building on a strong legacy in the naval industry and defense sustainment.

Moog’s experience in sustainment across multiple domains within our aircraft and industrial divisions, as well as other defense programs, allows us to offer a model that is proven to increase uptime. This model gives the Navy predictable scheduling for overhauls to help alleviate schedule risks that are driving decisions on operational availability during major overhauls.

Allen Ruef is a Naval Systems Sales Manager at Moog and explains how Moog is helping to solve fleet readiness concerns within the Navy.

“Moog’s products are designed and built using knowledge that has been gained over the last 50+ years on every class of US Nuclear Submarine that has been built since the 1960’s. The designs are based on the concept of life of boat (30 years), meaning that the actuator would not need to be replaced for the life of the boat,” said Ruef.

While Moog’s naval products are designed for longevity, Ruef works closely with the Navy to support periodic sustainment needs.

“As Moog has worked with the U.S. Navy, we have determined that while our products are designed for this length of service, the mating function requires a specific overhaul periodicity, and drives a base level of sustainment for the actuator upon removal. This sustainment cycle requires additional human capital in the yard, and with the challenges of capacity, all additional tasks whether large or small, may affect the overhaul operational availability,” elaborates Ruef.

Drawing on Moog’s heritage and technical knowledge in the submarine industry, overhaul times can be minimized, and efficiencies maximized.

Drawing on Moog’s heritage and technical knowledge in the submarine industry, overhaul times can be minimized, and efficiencies maximized.

“Using Moog’s technical abilities and 50-year of submarine experience to bear on sustainment, we can overhaul the equipment within the initial design parameters and in concert with the operational needs of the Navy.”

Moog’s global comprehensive sustainment support provides predictable overhaul times and a ready inventory for sustainment, two factors that are important to achieve effectiveness. In the future, Ruef ensures that Moog’s reliable products and sustainment readiness will contribute to improve the Navy’s operational availability: “Our goal is to support the operational availability of the fleet to help reduce the fleet in maintenance percentage to the levels committed by the Chief of Naval Operations”, said Ruef.