F-35 Shortfall Forces the Navy to Buy More F-18s
http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/news/a19393/us-navy-2017-budget-f-18-f-35/ By Kyle Mizokami
Feb 10, 2016
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Arguing that they face a wide spectrum of threats, the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps will buy nearly as many aircraft as the Air Force in 2017, plus more than half a dozen large combatant ships. The Sea Services are requesting $152.9 billion in funding for the coming year, $7 billion less than they received in 2016.
In a budget presentation uploaded by U.S. Naval Institute News, the service identifies five threats it is working to counter: China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, and the Islamic State. The five compose a broad spectrum of threats, with China and Russia at the high end, North Korea and Iran in the middle representing more limited threats, and at the low end, the slow heartburn of the Islamic State.
The Navy's budget request reflects the spectrum. Nuclear submarines, P-8A Poseidon patrol planes, and the F-35C Joint Strike Fighter are needed to deter or fight the advanced threats. Guided missile destroyers can shooting down North Korean and Iranian ballistic missiles, while amphibious assault ships, helicopters, and drones are useful in chasing down ISIS.
Planes
The Navy will buy four F-35Cs in 2017—that's the aircraft carrier version of the Joint Strike Fighter. It's proceeding with its F-35C buy slowly, with only 64 planes bought between 2017 and 2021. The F-35C is expected to be the last of the Joint Strike Fighter variants to become capable of real-world operations.
And in a surprise move, the service also will buy two F/A-18E/F Super Hornets this year and another 14 next year. The delay of the Joint Strike Fighter, which is now at least six years behind schedule, has triggered a shortfall in the number of fighters—possibly as many as 138 planes into the 2020s, according to Navy Times. Thus the need for more Hornets to fill the gap.
The Navy also wants 11 P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, the replacement for the P-3C Orion. The Navy and Marines want two MQ-4C Triton drones—the naval version of the Air Force's Global Hawk—one MQ-8C Fire Scout, and eight RQ-21A Blackjack drones. Funding for CBARS, the Navy's midair refueling drone, starts in 2017 with a modest $89 million budget.
Controversially, the Navy plans to deactivate the 14th Carrier Air Wing, one of ten carrier air wings. Each wing comprises the entire aircraft complement of an aircraft carrier. The Navy believes it can get away with this because although it has a ten-carrier force—which one might assume needs ten wings—in reality, at least one carrier is always stuck in deep maintenance and couldn't be readied for war even if the Navy tried. The Navy want to shift the costs and personnel associated with the wing work to reinforce other units.
Meanwhile, the Marines are charging ahead with the vertical-takeoff version of the Joint Strike Fighter, buying 16 F-35Bs for the Marine Corps. The Corps will purchase 97 fighters over the next five years. It will also buy the first two CH-53K King Stallion heavy lift helicopters, sixteen Osprey tiltrotor transports, and 24 AH-1Z and UH-1Y helicopters.
Ships
The 2017 budget will fund seven ships, including two Virginia-class attack submarines, two Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyers, two Littoral Combat Ships, and one amphibious aviation ship of the America class.
The Virginia submarine purchase reflects the excellent multi-year deal the Navy struck with the submarine industry in 2014, when it agreed to buy ten of the nuclear-powered attack submarines for $18 billion. The destroyers will be among the first of a fresh batch of Arleigh Burke-Class guided missile destroyers, equipped with the new Air and Missile Defense Radars that boost the ship's ballistic missile defense capabilities.
The Littoral Combat Ship purchase hangs under a cloud, as influential members of Congress this week blasted the frigate-like ship. The overall purchase of the LCS was recently cut by the Secretary of Defense from 52 to 40 as ship reliability and lack of deployable mission modules—a capability that was supposed to give the LCS the ability to sweep mines, conduct anti-submarine warfare, and engage surface ships—has dogged those vessels already built.
The largest ship in the budget is an amphibious assault ship of the America class. 844 feet long and displacing 45,000 tons, the ships can carry up to 1,600 Marines. The America class is optimized for aviation, capable of launching an air assault using F-35B, MV-22B Osprey, King Stallion, and other aircraft.
The Rest
Under water, the Navy is boosting funding for the XL/LD Unmanned Undersea Vehicle. Essentially a large drone submarine, the XL/UUV would be able to operate at sea for at least 70 days, using a Littoral Combat Ship or Virginia-class submarine as a home base. The drone could be equipped with a dry deck shelter to carry SEALs or equipment for surveillance, anti-submarine warfare, mine warfare, or even weapons for taking on other submarines or surface ships.
One major program beginning to make its presence felt: the Ohio Replacement Program, the successor to the fourteen Ohio-class nuclear ballistic missile submarines. The Navy is spending $1 billion this year to develop the new submarine, and the entire program is estimated to eventually cost $100 billion.
