An Astute-class nuclear-powered submarine from the Royal Navy surfaces during operations linked to the AUKUS (Screenshot via YouTube)A timeline is not a delivery date, and a single shipyard carrying the weight of both a national deterrent and a trilateral alliance remains exactly what the title suggests: a single point of obsolescence, writes Professor Vince Hooper. American Virginia-class production runs at 1.1 to 1.2 hulls per year; the AUKUS plan requires 2.33. A multi-decade submarine programme passing through that many hands is its own kind of risk. The Defence Investment Plan reconfirmed up to twelve SSN-AUKUS boats inside a £63.6 billion nuclear ring-fence, but attached no programme cost. But a timeline is not a delivery date, and a single shipyard carrying the weight of both a national deterrent and a trilateral alliance, while the ocean it is building for changes around it, remains exactly what the title suggests: a single point of obsolescence.