The U.S. Navy Has A Problem: The 30-Year Shipbuilding Program Is Not Enough
ByDr. Steven WillsPublished22 hours ago
The U.S. Navy Shipbuilding Plan Is Not Adequate: Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral Mike Gilday is facing a challenging budget environment this year as he seeks to retire older and less capable ships while trying to make the force “more lethal” and eventually grow to 355 manned and unmanned ships. In addition to these goals, the Navy must also pay the cost for the Columbia class ballistic missile submarine (SSBN), a platform whose initial cost exceeds $15 billion. To meet this major cost and others, the Navy is prioritizing the readiness of the existing force over new construction to prepare the existing fleet for combat against peer adversaries. This means training their crews, filling their fuel tanks, arming them with the ordnance they need to do their jobs and above all the maintenance to keep them deployed and ready to fight.
The service is basing its arguments on the capability of individual and collective formations of ships to make this case, suggesting that some like the aging CG-47 class cruisers and problematic ships in the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) ranks cost more to keep in service than what they are currently worth in combat. Admiral Gilday has noted however that current defense budget options do not allow the service to reach three hundred ships by 2035 and 367 ships by 2052.
Given the current threat, the fleet is not growing fast enough to meet the potential challenge of fighting two major wars against peer competitors like China and Russia as well as regional powers like North Korea and Iran.
https://www.19fortyfive.com/2022/05/the-u-s-navy-has-a-problem-the-30-year-shipbuilding-program-is-not-enough/
