Navy Secretary Seeks 3-5% Annual Budget Increases
“I think more members of Congress understand the real threat that China presents,” Del Toro said.
By Caitlin M. Kenney
Staff Reporter
November 4, 2021
The U.S. Navy needs annual budget increases of three to five percent over inflation if it is to reach its shipbuilding goals and meet China’s “significant threat,” Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said Thursday.
“I think we're raising the alarm, certainly, and I think more members of Congress understand the real threat that China presents, not just to our national security, but our economic security. I think they'll become more willing to invest more in the Department of Navy, both the Navy and the Marine Corps,” Del Toro said at the 2021 Aspen Security Forum in Washington, D.C.
Del Toro spoke the day after the Pentagon released its annual report on China’s military power, which estimates that the country will have 1,000 or more nuclear warheads by 2030, far more than estimated in last year’s report. China already has the world’s largest navy at 355 ships and submarines, many of which soon “will have the capability to conduct long-range precision strikes.”
https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2021/11/navy-secretary-seeks-3-5-annual-budget-increases/186647/
