Citing industry capacity, Navy’s Gilday throws cold water on three destroyers per year
"The defense industrial base right now is strained. And a lot of that has to do with the workforce, as we recover from COVID," said Adm. Michael Gilday.
By JUSTIN KATZ
on September 14, 2022 at 2:10 PM
Updated 9/14/22 at 4:46 PM with comments from HII and General Dynamics.
WASHINGTON — As lawmakers are poised to send the White House legislation allowing the Navy to buy up to three destroyers per year, the Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday today suggested the shipbuilding industry isn’t prepared to fill the orders.
“Right now, we are not at a point where the industrial base is supporting three destroyers a year,” the Navy’s top admiral said during a virtual Defense One event. “Right now, there’s somewhere between two and two and a half. And so we want to make sure if we’re going to put that money down against shipbuilding, that the capacity is actually there so that money is well spent.”
In coming months senators and representatives will negotiate their respective Pentagon policy bills. Both chambers have advanced texts that allow for a new, multi-year procurement deal including up to 15 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, potentially bought at a rate of three ships per year. As a matter of policy, both chambers of Congress look poised to green light such a contract, but whether the service actually buys three destroyers per year is an issue to be resolved through individual budget requests — and the willingness of congressional appropriators to provide enough funding.
https://breakingdefense.com/2022/09/citing-industry-capacity-navys-gilday-throws-cold-water-on-three-destroyers-per-year/
