The Biden administration's new shipbuilding plan is wholly inadequate By Rep. Rob Wittman and Ranking Member Mike Rogers April 20, 2022 Defense News
America is a maritime nation, and we have been one since our inception; the 30-year shipbuilding plan from the Biden administration does not reflect our legacy or present a vision for our future. Instead, this plan would abandon key tenants of American naval power, shirk congressionally mandated shipbuilding requirements, break faith with our shipbuilding-industrial base, and put the Navy on a path of near-term decline during a pivotal decade for confronting the coercive maritime activities of China and Russia.
The myriad failures of this 30-year shipbuilding request are exacerbated by the Biden administration's decision to hide its anemic ship-construction plan and intention to accelerate ship retirements from Congress last year by only previewing fiscal 2022 decisions in its budget request.
The Biden administration only delivered this plan following pressure from Congress to provide a substantive path forward. What substance the Biden administration now provides regarding its vision for the future of the fleet is deeply disappointing.
Over 30 years, the Biden administration projects that it will only reach the required battle force inventory of 355 ships by FY43 in an unconstrained budget scenario, while submitting a budget request for FY23 that fails to keep pace with historic inflation at every turn.
Unavoidably, this 30-year shipbuilding plan will undermine key naval missions. The missile tube capacity of the fleet will be reduced by 10% as the Navy retires the remaining cruise missile submarines this decade, along with 17 Ticonderoga-class cruisers — notably reducing the air warfare and surface strike capabilities of the fleet.
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The outlook for the Corps is particularly worrisome, as the plan fails to differentiate between the different mission sets of the light amphibious warship and its role as an intra-theater connector compared to traditional amphibious ships.
At its core, this plan also fundamentally breaks faith with the shipbuilding-industrial base. It will restrict construction on the FFG-62 Constellation-class frigate so that no second yard will be able to receive work, and the Navy's ability to disaggregate forces this decade will be limited as a result.
The plan will also deliver a multiyear procurement authority for just nine DDG-51 Arleigh Burke destroyers, paving the way for reducing future production goals.
The lack of a concrete plan beyond the FYDP will continue a trend of uncertainty that risks becoming systemic for the shipbuilding-industrial base at a time when workforce concerns and facility modernization investments are of paramount importance for building and maintaining the future fleet.
Congress must reject this plan. We need a budget that is driven by a strategy to secure the national defense of the United States and our global interests; this shipbuilding plan fails at every turn. The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the responsibility to "provide and maintain a Navy," and we must uphold that charge and rectify the wrongs committed by President Joe Biden's budget request and 30-year shipbuilding plan.
