Proposal for sweeping cuts to U.S. Navy shipbuilding, force structure could herald a new strategy, experts say
By: David B. Larter  
PHILADELPHIA – A sweeping series of proposed cuts to the U.S. Navy’s shipbuilding programs and force structure could herald a new strategy for a slimmed-down fleet, or could fizzle out in the budgetary process. But the fact that such a proposal is on the table in the first place shows the pressures the Defense Department is working under with an anticipated flat budget and a stack of modernization bills to pay, experts say.
A memo obtained by Defense News from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget to the Department of Defense outlined dramatic cuts to the Navy’s Flight III Arleigh Burke destroyer program, cutting five out of the 12 proposed over the five-year future year defense program, of FYDP. It also pushed a Block V Virginia-class attack submarine out of the 2021 budget, dropping down to one from the planned two. And it slowed down the buy for the planned 20-ship FFG(X) program, ordering just one in 2021 and 2022, instead of the planned two each year.
https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2019/12/27/proposal-for-sweeping-cuts-to-us-navy-shipbuilding-force-structure-could-herald-a-new-strategy-experts-say/
