CNO Gilday Ready to Act on Parts of Future Fleet Plan — As Long As It Doesn’t Hurt Readiness
By: Megan Eckstein
November 11, 2020 2:49 PM
The chief of naval operations remains mindful of deployment lengths, crew sizes, maintenance capacity and other measures of a healthy fleet even amid calls to grow the Navy to 500 ships or more, during what could be an important time in determining the future of the Navy.
Adm. Mike Gilday said he’s not just preoccupied with what the future larger fleet will look like – though he has a good idea of what he wants from unmanned systems but is less sure about new manned concepts like a light carrier and a next-generation fighter jet – but also how to man and sustain the fleet, and how to operate it globally in a changing world.
“For me, what the right equation looks like going into the 2030s is a balance of readiness, lethality, and capacity,†he said in a Nov. 5 telephone interview with USNI News.
“The biggest unknown is the budget, right? And so if funding stalls – and obviously the [Pentagon’s Future Naval Force Study] is mere fantasy without the money to support it – then my priority will still be putting money against readiness and lethality. I’m not going to grow a hollow fleet. So as I’ve said publicly before, I need a more ready, more lethal, more capable fleet more than I need a larger fleet that’s less ready, less lethal, and less capable.â€
https://news.usni.org/2020/11/11/cno-gilday-ready-to-act-on-parts-of-future-fleet-plan-as-long-as-it-doesnt-hurt-readiness
