22.07.2021, 15:25
Zitat:Biden Administration Holds Off on Navy Fleet Expansion, but Long-Term Shipbuilding Plans Remain Uncertainhttps://dsm.forecastinternational.com/wo...uncertain/
President Joe Biden has not adopted a naval expansion proposed by the previous administration, but the future of the Navy fleet remains uncertain because a new long-term shipbuilding plan has not been finalized.
The Navy’s FY22 budget request, released at the end of May, included $22.6 billion for shipbuilding and conversion, $698 million less than the FY21 enacted level. Last year’s FY21 request sought $19.9 billion for ships, but Congress added $3.4 billion during the FY21 budget markup process. The FY22 topline figure includes $18.1 billion for construction of new ships, with the remainder of funding supporting items like aircraft carrier refueling and procuring landing craft. [...] There is an important caveat to this comparison, however, because the Navy released a proposed long-term shipbuilding plan in the final weeks of the Trump administration that would have significantly increased warship construction over the coming years. That plan was known as Battle Force 2045.
That plan called for increasing the battle force fleet to 403 manned ships, up from the previous goal of 355 ships. Added onto that would be 143 unmanned platforms, bringing the total to 546 ships. The expansion would have required a significant increase in Navy funding. [...]
The FY22 request includes eight battle force ships: two Virginia class submarines, one DDG 51 class destroyer, one Constellation class frigate, one T-AO 205 class oiler, two T-ATS salvage and towing vessels, and one T-AGOS ocean surveillance ship. Compared to projections from the previous year’s budget, the request cuts one destroyer but adds one oiler and one T-ATS. [...] The FY22 long-range shipbuilding plan, which was truncated due to the change in administration, calls for between nine and 11 aircraft carriers (the current requirement is 11). The large surface combatant fleet would drop from 91 ships today to between 63-65 ships, accomplished primarily through retiring the Ticonderoga class cruisers. The Battle Force 2045 plan called for 74 large surface combatants.
Schneemann.