{"id":14291,"date":"2022-06-24T14:40:07","date_gmt":"2022-06-24T14:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2022\/06\/24\/the-congressional-fight-to-scrap-littoral-combat-ships-isnt-over\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:24:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:24:26","slug":"the-congressional-fight-to-scrap-littoral-combat-ships-isnt-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2022\/06\/24\/the-congressional-fight-to-scrap-littoral-combat-ships-isnt-over\/","title":{"rendered":"The congressional fight to scrap littoral combat ships isn\u2019t over"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2015 Congress appears poised to save five <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/news\/your-navy\/2022\/05\/10\/the-littoral-combat-ships-latest-problem-class-wide-structural-defects-leading-to-hull-cracks\/\" target=\"_blank\">littoral combat ships<\/a> from an early retirement, but the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee says the effort to ditch the ships is not yet over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Three separate congressional committees have approved defense budget plans that would block the Navy from scrapping five vessels from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/naval\/2020\/12\/15\/the-us-navy-is-investigating-a-potential-lcs-class-wide-design-flaw\/\" target=\"_blank\">problem-plagued<\/a> ship class. Still, HASC Chairman <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2022\/06\/15\/defense-spending-plan-for-next-year-will-see-a-significant-hike-lawmakers-say\/\" target=\"_blank\">Adam Smith<\/a>, D-Wash., said he plans to offer an amendment on the House floor later this summer \u201cso the full House can have their say on whether or not it is a wise place to spend money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cPlease let us focus on quality, not just quantity, as we make these decisions going forward,\u201d Smith said Wednesday at his panel\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2022\/06\/23\/more-money-to-buy-weaponry-and-fight-inflation-in-house-defense-bill\/\" target=\"_blank\">markup of its draft 2023 national defense authorization act<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The debate will likely split Democrats, pitting naval advocates who worry the Navy\u2019s fleet is shrinking too much against critics who say the defense budget is growing too large. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have rejected Navy budget plans to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/naval\/2022\/04\/04\/us-navy-reveals-ships-facing-potential-decommissioning-next-year\/\">decommission 24 ships<\/a>, 16 of them ahead of schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Wednesday, the HASC markup saw a bipartisan 42-17 vote on an amendment to add $37 billion to President Joe Biden\u2019s $773 billion Pentagon budget request, but not before Democrats argued on both sides of the LCS retirement debate. Smith voted against the amendment \u2014 which protected the five LCSs in addition to adding new ships, planes and more \u2014 which was proposed by Democratic Reps. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/naval\/2022\/05\/18\/navy-says-it-will-lose-millions-by-not-committing-to-10-destroyers-in-upcoming-contract\/\" target=\"_blank\">Jared Golden<\/a>, of Maine, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/naval\/2022\/03\/14\/top-navy-official-says-service-needs-a-larger-fleet-and-a-larger-share-of-the-budget\/\" target=\"_blank\">Elaine Luria<\/a>, of Virginia.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2022\/06\/22\/no-consensus-yet-on-military-spending-for-next-year-except-for-more-of-it\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">No consensus yet on military spending for next year, except for more of it<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">House lawmakers on Wednesday offered new and conflicting plans for defense spending next year, setting up intense congressional debate in coming months over what the right level of military funding for fiscal 2023 should be.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Navy officials have said they couldn\u2019t find room for the LCSs in their budget \u2014 which prioritizes readiness for a high-end fight in the Indo-Pacific \u2014 despite $4 billion in sunk costs. On Wednesday, lawmakers who would allow the Navy to decommission these ships pointed to numerous breakdowns among ships in the class, problems with their combining gear and their $59 million annual maintenance cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/opinion\/commentary\/2020\/09\/30\/buy-american-reforms-strike-the-right-balance\/\" target=\"_blank\">Jackie Speier<\/a>, D-Calif., displayed a floor chart titled \u201cLeaking Cracked Ships\u201d that contained a picture of each LCS with a lemon, playing on the slang for a defective vehicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe all know what lemon cars are. We have a fleet of lemon LCS ships,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have spent billions of dollars on this fleet when they have no capability to help us deal with our largest threat, which is that of China and Russia. The only winners have been the contractors on which the Navy relies for sustaining these ships.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Smith said Congress must be more thoughtful about limiting defense spending levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019ve heard a lot of people saying recently, \u2018Quantity has a quality all its own.\u2019 And I just want to be clear: No, it doesn\u2019t. That\u2019s one of the dumbest damn things I\u2019ve ever heard,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But those who want to keep the ships say the Navy can free up more capable ships to operate in the contested <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2022\/06\/08\/australia-and-canada-accuse-china-of-dangerous-air-intercepts-beijing-pushes-back\/\" target=\"_blank\">South China Sea<\/a> by using LCSs for counter-trafficking missions in Latin America or Africa, presence missions in Europe, and mine-hunting missions in the Mideast. The Navy had proposed decommissioning nine LCSs, and if five are spared from this fate, lawmakers want to sell the remaining four to an ally or partner who could train and operate alongside the U.S. Navy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Earlier in the week, the House Seapower subcommittee\u2019s top Republican, Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/naval\/2022\/06\/21\/rep-rob-wittman-on-us-navy-ship-retirements-and-a-sea-launched-nuclear-weapon\/\" target=\"_blank\">Rob Wittman<\/a> of Virginia, said the Navy is on the wrong side of what he called the \u201cships built versus the ships retired\u201d ratio at a time when the Navy fleet is set to shrink by 18 ships in the next five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cShrinking the Navy sends absolutely the wrong message. We\u2019re not opposed to retiring legacy ships; what we are opposed to is a plan to replace that capacity [with new ships later] that potentially never comes to fruition,\u201d Wittman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday approved its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/congress\/2022\/06\/14\/house-democrats-rebuke-calls-to-raise-spending-in-defense-bill\/\" target=\"_blank\">draft FY23 defense spending bill<\/a>, which also protects five LCSs from retirement. The chair of the committee\u2019s defense panel, Rep.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/congress\/2019\/11\/06\/surprise-retirement-shakes-up-defense-spending-in-congress\/\" target=\"_blank\"> Betty McCollum<\/a>, D-Minn., stopped short of backing a Republican amendment to protect all nine, but the bill directs the Navy to report on alternate uses for the ships by U.S. Southern Command and U.S. Africa Command and the feasibility of transferring them to a partner navy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThese ships have functionality to them,\u201d McCollum said during the committee\u2019s markup. \u201cThe first round of conversations I had with the Navy were unsatisfactory, and they are coming around to the seriousness of making sure the taxpayer\u2019s dollars are, at a minimum, repurposed in a way that helps with our national security.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before the Navy could transfer the ships, it would have to fix a faulty combining gear on these Freedom-variant LCSs. The service and industry have already designed and approved a fix, but face limited shipyard capacity to install the new combining gear system, meaning it could take years before all LCSs have the new system installed.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2022\/05\/13\/navy-effort-to-cancel-lcs-mission-package-triggers-new-cost-breach\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"98\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Raytheon_Littoral_Combat_Ship_Variable_Depth_Sonar.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Navy effort to cancel LCS mission package triggers new cost breach<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">A decision to cancel the technically challenged ASW mission package raised the per-unit cost overall for the mission modules program, resulting in a Nunn-McCurdy breach the Navy reported to Congress May 13.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kyiv turned down the LCS when lawmakers explored sending them to strengthen the depleted Ukrainian navy against Russia\u2019s ongoing invasion, House Seapower Subcommittee Chairman <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/opinion\/commentary\/2022\/05\/03\/moskvas-sinking-the-rise-of-anti-ship-cruise-missiles-and-what-that-means-for-the-us-navy\/\" target=\"_blank\">Joe Courtney<\/a>, D-Conn., told Defense News on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ukraine\u2019s defense attach\u00e9 told lawmakers Ukraine\u2019s military would prefer more vessels like the two refitted former U.S. Coast Guard Island-class patrol boats it received in November, according to Courtney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The LCS, though among the smallest combatants in the U.S. fleet, is significantly larger than the Island-class boats, and it would require some time for Ukrainian forces to be trained to operate them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asked whether the U.S. might offer the LCS to Taiwan \u2015 as it has other weapons to deter a potential seaborne invasion by the Chinese military \u2015 Courtney said the Philippine navy, which operates former U.S. Coast Guard cutters, might be a candidate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Philippine navy is riding around in Coast Guard cutters that are ancient so I would think there\u2019s an attractive case there,\u201d Courtney said. \u201cWe have to fix the combining gear, or that would really be violating the lemon law. There is a fix, and it\u2019s about $8 million.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Bryant Harris and Leo Shane III contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Congress appears poised to save five littoral combat ships from an early retirement, but the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee is saying that the fight to ditch the ships is not yet 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