Hire South Korea and Japan to build our next ships until the U.S. Navy can get its act together. We cannot afford another round of Ford CVN, LCS or Zumwalts. Nor another Bonhomme Richard- what a FUBAR. We also need to stamp out the graft, corruption and incompetence in the Navy- do you think Fat Leonard was a once in a lifetime event, a unique occurence?
Good summary. It appears that the problem is basically twofold: (1) Getting a secure funding path to put the Navy where it needs to be, and (2) OSD. The first requires de-emphasis of handout social programs to the benefit of defense. The second getting OSD out of the granular part of shipbuilding. I leave it to the reader to figure out the likelihood of either under the current "Administration".
Seems like a compromise is needed at this point. Perhaps we should allow the 'phibs to take a backseat for a few years with little more than some long lead funding and use that money for quantity buys of DDG and FFG to reduce their costs while also long lead funding of the CGX.
Double the 55 ships over the course of the FYDP and that would be much more comforting to those national security professionals who are read in on certain peer competitors. I used my former green eyeshades skills to ballpark a revised DoD budget for a persistent era of great uncertainty: it came to $1.25 Tr. I know, I know. Where do the resources come from, especially in a time where we appear to be unable to recruit/retain the manpower necessary for our forces as they now are? I am sure those of us who follow CDR Sal, and himself, have ideas. We must get these ideas into reality and fast. Time is of the essence.
It not always show much we spend but how we spend it. For the money wasted on Ford, Zumwalt and LCS we could have purchased approx. 28 Virginia class subs or 10 Nimitz Carriers or 34 Arleigh Burke Flight 3s. or 70 Constellations. How many up gunned/missile-d version of the Cyclone class would that have bought or more importantly, pilot flight time, USVs and shipyard/drydock expansions? Looking a the overall DOD budget do we really need a nuclear triad or would bombers and Boomers be sufficient. We do away with land based ICBMs (AKA fixed targets) and use that money elsewhere. How many flight demonstration teams does the Air Force need? Did the Space Force really need a new uniform or would a modification to the current Air Force uniforms suffice.? How much money does DOD spend yearly on DEI? How much money has the Navy spent on trying to come up with a work uniform (and failed) when the the Coast Guard a perfectly acceptable one they can adopt? In line with this given the light/limited duty restrictions and short time to wear (less than 9 month) why spend money developing a maternity uniform? How many FOGO and their associated staffs do we really need?
What this country needs are a good $300 million missile boat and $150 million amphib.
Hire South Korea and Japan to build our next ships until the U.S. Navy can get its act together. We cannot afford another round of Ford CVN, LCS or Zumwalts. Nor another Bonhomme Richard- what a FUBAR. We also need to stamp out the graft, corruption and incompetence in the Navy- do you think Fat Leonard was a once in a lifetime event, a unique occurence?
Good summary. It appears that the problem is basically twofold: (1) Getting a secure funding path to put the Navy where it needs to be, and (2) OSD. The first requires de-emphasis of handout social programs to the benefit of defense. The second getting OSD out of the granular part of shipbuilding. I leave it to the reader to figure out the likelihood of either under the current "Administration".
"...amphibious shipping requirement studies."
Quick answer not requiring millions of dollars in studies: We don't have enough.
Ships and equipment are important.
Also important is how you use that equipment - see Russia's attack on Kyiv.
Also important is that men use the equipment. How well are they trained and does the training match what is needed when the balloon goes up.
Also what lessons from Ukraine can the Navy apply to the future?
Aircraft carriers are not tanks. Destroyers and Cruisers are not infantry.
Which ones are climate change combatants?
Seems like a compromise is needed at this point. Perhaps we should allow the 'phibs to take a backseat for a few years with little more than some long lead funding and use that money for quantity buys of DDG and FFG to reduce their costs while also long lead funding of the CGX.
In the meantime? How is that WiG project coming along? https://news.usni.org/2023/02/01/darpa-awards-contracts-for-long-range-liberty-lifter-flying-boat-design
Good points by Bryan. Resolving the USN/USMC/OSD conflict over amphib numbers ought to be a SECNAV top priority.
Double the 55 ships over the course of the FYDP and that would be much more comforting to those national security professionals who are read in on certain peer competitors. I used my former green eyeshades skills to ballpark a revised DoD budget for a persistent era of great uncertainty: it came to $1.25 Tr. I know, I know. Where do the resources come from, especially in a time where we appear to be unable to recruit/retain the manpower necessary for our forces as they now are? I am sure those of us who follow CDR Sal, and himself, have ideas. We must get these ideas into reality and fast. Time is of the essence.
It not always show much we spend but how we spend it. For the money wasted on Ford, Zumwalt and LCS we could have purchased approx. 28 Virginia class subs or 10 Nimitz Carriers or 34 Arleigh Burke Flight 3s. or 70 Constellations. How many up gunned/missile-d version of the Cyclone class would that have bought or more importantly, pilot flight time, USVs and shipyard/drydock expansions? Looking a the overall DOD budget do we really need a nuclear triad or would bombers and Boomers be sufficient. We do away with land based ICBMs (AKA fixed targets) and use that money elsewhere. How many flight demonstration teams does the Air Force need? Did the Space Force really need a new uniform or would a modification to the current Air Force uniforms suffice.? How much money does DOD spend yearly on DEI? How much money has the Navy spent on trying to come up with a work uniform (and failed) when the the Coast Guard a perfectly acceptable one they can adopt? In line with this given the light/limited duty restrictions and short time to wear (less than 9 month) why spend money developing a maternity uniform? How many FOGO and their associated staffs do we really need?
Even a hybrid solution such as this would be better than what our Navy is capable of doing at this point.