{"id":54990,"date":"2021-06-16T00:18:23","date_gmt":"2021-06-16T00:18:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2021\/06\/16\/lawmakers-are-worried-about-the-us-navys-spending-plan-and-a-near-term-china-threat\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:04:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:04:41","slug":"lawmakers-are-worried-about-the-us-navys-spending-plan-and-a-near-term-china-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2021\/06\/16\/lawmakers-are-worried-about-the-us-navys-spending-plan-and-a-near-term-china-threat\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers are worried about the US Navy\u2019s spending plan and a near-term China threat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2013 A prediction last year that China could attempt to invade Taiwan in the next six years<\/a> has put increased pressure on talks between lawmakers and U.S. Navy leadership over how to prioritize fiscal 2022 spending needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, the apparent preference of House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., to not increase Defense Department top-line spending and instead find cuts within the department to offset any additional needs is now creating another layer of complexity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The budget tension was on full display during a June 15 HASC hearing with Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday, Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. David Berger and Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Harker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAdmiral, you painted a pretty ugly picture for the future of the Navy. Given that fact, do you feel like this budget is adequate to help you take on those challenges?\u201d HASC Ranking Member Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., told Gilday in kicking off his round of questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HASC Vice Chair Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., said more bluntly, \u201cI understand you were given a shitty top-line by the administration, and specifically the Pentagon; you didn\u2019t have a lot of good choices, but you did have choices.\u201d She then went on to question the Navy\u2019s plan of prioritizing current operations and readiness over growing the fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At heart is the Navy\u2019s calculus that its current operational tempo \u2013 dictated ultimately by the secretary of defense in consultation with joint force leaders, and not shaped by the Navy itself \u2013 has strained the service but is unlikely to change any time soon. So the Navy in its FY22 request asked for a 2.2 percent increase in operations and maintenance funding, even as it asked for an 8.7 percent decrease in procurement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To explain why the Navy had to fund operations at the expense of modernization, Gilday said it\u2019s cost the Navy about $250 million to extend four carrier deployments in the Middle East to provide the joint force a permanent carrier presence there since May 2019 \u2014 primarily meant to deter Iran from aggressive behaviors \u2014 meaning that money couldn\u2019t be spent for shipbuilding or researching future platforms and weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose 15 requests for forces that extended four carriers in Central Command for almost a year came at a cost of over a quarter of a billion dollars that we can\u2019t invest in modernization,\u201d Gilday said. \u201cIf there\u2019s a reason to keep the carrier there then keep it there, but if there\u2019s not, use another element of the joint force to do the job\u201d and relieve the Navy of that cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gilday told Rogers early in the hearing that the Navy was doing the best it could to keep up current readiness and build out a future fleet while meeting the operational requirements from the Pentagon. He said current Navy top-lines allow for just a 300-ship fleet, putting the 355-ship figure borne out by several studies out of reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do with our investment strategy is to balance those investments across the readiness of the fleet today; the modernization with new technologies, and that\u2019s reflected as an example with a 12-percent increase in [research and development], with emphasis on hypersonics on the offensive and laser technology on the defensive to protect the fleet; the third piece is capacity,\u201d Gilday answered early in the hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom what I\u2019m reading, the Navy is shrinking under this budget,\u201d Rogers interrupted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSir, for the 22 budget itself, the Navy\u2019s numbers are declining. That\u2019s correct,\u201d Gilday said, adding that \u201cthe last several studies that have been done, going back five years, call for a larger, more capable fleet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd this budget doesn\u2019t get you there,\u201d Rogers said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo sir, it does not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet me ask this: Adm. [Phil] Davidson, the recent [U.S. Indo-Pacific Command] commander, indicated that he expects a conflict with China in the next six years. In your best professional military judgment, do you agree with Admiral Davidson\u2019s assessment?\u201d Rogers continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSir, I think the keyword that he used there was \u2018could.\u2019 And I think that that potential always exists, and I think we have to be ready any given day for anything,\u201d Gilday said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, you know, if you agree it could happen, I just don\u2019t know why we would agree with anything that would reduce the force structure and induce a near-term risk with China,\u201d Rogers concluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luria expressed similar concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel this budget is focused on a future hope for technology that we will have in order to counter a threat that might happen way out in the future. And I think that many of us in this room here and during this hearing have reflected on the fact that we need that capability today. \u2026 I think that we\u2019re creating a gap, and I am really concerned that the Chinese will actually find a way to exploit that gap.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10), right, conducts routine operations in the vicinity of the Chinese vessel Hai Yang Di Zhi 4 Hao, July 1, 2020, in the South China Sea. MC2 Brenton Poyser\/US Navy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Still, there are no easy answers. Committee members made clear they wanted the Navy to spend money to keep its current ships in the fleet and properly maintained and modernized; they also want the Navy to invest in buying new ships for the future, to create a larger and more lethal fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To create that future fleet, the Navy had planned to sacrifice fleet size today by divesting older cruisers, Littoral Combat Ships and amphibious dock landing ships that, in the Navy\u2019s estimation, do not have enough combat utility left in them to be worth the increasing cost of maintaining and operating them. If the committee doesn\u2019t let the Navy divest these ships and spend the money on future investments, it\u2019s unclear where that money will come from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top-line increase seems unlikely<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smith is ushering HASC through its first National Defense Authorization Act cycle in a decade that didn\u2019t have sequestration looming overhead. In the past, the House and Senate budget committees had to agree to defense and non-defense spending top-lines that had to be carefully adhered to, lest the total budget creep too high and trigger automatic across-the-board cuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, with sequestration over, there\u2019s intra-party and inter-party fighting over what the right level of defense spending looks like for the Biden administration\u2019s first budget. House Democrats introduced a resolution that calls for about $1.5 trillion in spending in FY22 but does not define the proper amount of military spending due to an ongoing split within the party, Defense News reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smith has sought forestall an \u201cepic fight\u201d over the defense spending top-line, saying it\u2019s better to focus on how to spend the money effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Citing past spending decisions that he called wastes \u2013 the Zumwalt-class destroyer program, the Littoral Combat Ship program, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, and a mixed oxide fuel fabrication facility in South Carolina that spent $7 billion before ultimately being canceled \u2013 Smith said during the hearing that \u201cthere is concern, and part of the reason I know that President [Joe] Biden gave such a tight number is we\u2019re tired of wasting money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smith said of the Marines\u2019 decision to self-fund their Force Design 2030 efforts via divest-to-invest, \u201cthat\u2019s not some sort of profound personal sacrifice; that\u2019s smart. Because no matter what you\u2019re doing, there\u2019s no doubt that there\u2019s money in there that\u2019s being wasted, that isn\u2019t being used properly. So yes, we could just give you another $30 billion, another $40 [billion], another $50 [billion], another $100[billion]; the question is, what are you doing right now that you don\u2019t need to be doing?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gilday pointed to Aegis Ashore missile defense sites that will run in Romania and Poland and possibly Guam: \u201cwe\u2019ve got sailors protecting dirt, that\u2019s not what we do,\u201d he said, adding that a different military service should take over that mission despite it being based on the Navy\u2019s Aegis Combat System that\u2019s fielded on cruisers and destroyers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, Gilday said, \u201cwe\u2019re trying to decommission those 15 ships akin to what Gen. Berger is doing; we are trying to fund modernization from the inside.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe cruisers right now [in their modernization program] are running 175- to 200-percent above estimated cost. Hundreds of days delayed. These ships were intended to have a 30-year service life; we\u2019re out to 35. They\u2019re not easy decisions to make, and I accept the counter argument that we should keep these ships based on Adm. Davidson\u2019s comments, but at some point we need to\u201d be allowed to get rid of them and reinvest the savings, the Navy\u2019s top officer told Smith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Divest-to-invest strategies for Navy and Marines<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Marine Corps\u2019 divest-to-invest plans have been better received than the Navy\u2019s for the past year or two \u2013 though the commandant made clear the service has reached the end of the divestment phase, and anything else Congress wants the service to do must come with additional money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have wrung just about everything we can out of the Marine Corps internally. We\u2019re at the limits of the risk that you addressed. We\u2019ve reduced end strength, we\u2019ve divested of legacy systems, we\u2019ve taken every measure we can, to include a 15-percent cut in our headquarters; we\u2019ve wrung it dry,\u201d Berger said. \u201cWe\u2019re driven by a pacing threat \u2026 that we don\u2019t control the pace at which they go. And neither me nor the CNO want to transfer risk onto the backs of a combatant commander. \u2026. We have to be ready every day, every week, and the best insurance policy we have is a naval expeditionary force that\u2019s forward. We\u2019re at the limits of what I can do internally right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., asked if additional money was needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy only other option is to reduce the end strength of your Marine Corps even further, and I think that\u2019s unacceptable risk,\u201d Berger said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier in the hearing, he told Rogers that he could accomplish Force Design 2030 within the budget set forth by the Pentagon, but items on the Marine Corps\u2019 unfunded priorities list would help transform the Marines to a more agile and lethal force faster \u2013 addressing concerns that China may not wait until 2030 to attack Taiwan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn a pacing environment like we\u2019re in right now, it\u2019s tough to forecast whether or not China will move faster or on the same glideslope they\u2019re on. We\u2019re self-funding our modernization, as I explained. The items on the unfunded priority list would reduce the risk; it would allow us to move faster,\u201d Berger said. \u201cIf we\u2019re going to stay in front of China with a margin of advantage, then I think everything we can do in the Department of Defense to buy down that risk is in our favor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Despite a recent fire onboard, guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam (CG 54) steams ahead during Tuesday’s air power demonstration, taking part in a five-inch gun shoot. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Oswald Felix Jr.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For the Navy\u2019s part, though, a divest-to-invest strategy that involves cutting ships has never been well received in recent years, with the China\/Taiwan concern furthering the challenge of getting this plan past Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not prudent to decommission 15 ships in the next year when China could invade Taiwan in the very near term,\u201d Luria told Gilday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier in the hearing, Gilday had said that, based on past and current investments, \u201cwhat do we plan to deliver in 2025 and 2026? If I take a look at the undersea, we\u2019ll have delivered all of our Block III Virginias [attack submarines], we\u2019ll have delivered all of our Block IV Virginias, we\u2019ll be on the cusp of delivering Block Vs, and we\u2019ll have a longer-range more lethal undersea weapon. On the surface, we\u2019ll be delivering the Constellation-class frigate, we\u2019ll be building DDG(X), we\u2019ll be putting more Flight III DDGs in the water. By 2025, our plan is to have hypersonics in the Zumwalt-class destroyers. We are making continued investments in weapons with range and speed \u2013 think tactical Tomahawk. If I look at aviation \u2026 we\u2019ll have [a blend of fourth-generation F\/A-18E-F Super Hornets and fifth-generation F-35C Joint Strike Fighters] in half of our air wings, six of our air wings, more than half of our air wings, by 2025, with longer-range weapons with speed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But those advances would come as the overall fleet size shrank, between the near-term decommissionings and the fact that the Navy isn\u2019t building ships at a high-enough rate to replenish them<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luria noted that a previous divest-to-invest effort pitched in 2004 was meant to free up money to support programs at the heart of the Navy\u2019s Sea Power 21 plans: Zumwalt destroyers, of which there are only three today due to acquisition and cost challenges; LCS, which are still only being deployed in small numbers today; and a ForceNet network that never came to fruition. She said she worried today\u2019s plans to ditch cruisers to invest in future unmanned surface vessels and a new network under Project Overmatch would meet a similar fate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking at this Battle Force 2045, a plan that\u2019s far off, a 355-ship goal that we\u2019re never going to get to if we decommission more ships every year than we actually build. And it causes a great concern because I think there\u2019s an urgency \u2013 what are we going to do in 2025 to counter this threat?\u201d Luria asked. \u201cWe\u2019re continuing to shrink, and we\u2019re continuing to divest-to-invest with strategies and capabilities that are just a hope for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joe Gould contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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