A Guide to the Fleet the United States Needs
Bryan Clark and Bryan McGrath
February 10, 2017
Sailors-Flag
Print Friendly
Facebook Twitter Google+ LinkedIn
Editor’s Note: The 2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) required the Department of Defense to conduct three studies of the future fleet platform architecture needed by the Navy in the 2030 timeframe. The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) was selected to conduct one of the studies. The result is Restoring American Seapower by Bryan Clark, Bryan McGrath, Peter Haynes, Jesse Sloman, and Timothy Walton. Two of the authors – Bryan Clark and Bryan McGrath – preview their findings here.
Since the Cold War, the U.S. Navy has followed a well-worn template to deter aggression and respond to crises in the Middle East and the Western Pacific: a “one size fits all” carrier strike group and amphibious ready group. This approach won’t do the job any longer. China and Russia are violating international law and threatening U.S. allies even as ongoing operations in the Middle East are consuming the service lives of the Navy’s ships and aircraft. In response, the Department of Defense has deployed Navy and Marine forces longer and more frequently, creating what Navy leaders are calling a readiness crisis in the fleet. This is exacerbated by a reduction in the fleet’s size from 318 ships in 2000 to about 275 ships today.
The Navy’s predicament is likely to get worse. The United States will face a more stressful set of security challenges in the coming decade than it has since the end of the Cold War. Although terrorism and insurgency will continue to demand its attention, great powers such as China and Russia will likely become America’s most pressing national security concern over the next 20 years. Even today, Russia and China are pursuing their objectives through aggression just below the level of violence that would justify U.S. retaliation. As their capabilities improve, Russia and China may act more aggressively to tilt the balance of power in their favor and – in doing so – revise regional security arrangements. Russian and Chinese weapons also continue to proliferate to regional powers such as Iran and North Korea, themselves longstanding threats to U.S. national security interests.
https://warontherocks.com/2017/02/a-guide-to-the-fleet-the-united-states-needs/
