{"id":65517,"date":"2020-09-10T20:50:58","date_gmt":"2020-09-10T20:50:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/09\/10\/the-us-navys-long-delayed-plan-for-its-future-force-is-nearing-finish-line-sort-of\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:46:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:46:25","slug":"the-us-navys-long-delayed-plan-for-its-future-force-is-nearing-finish-line-sort-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2020\/09\/10\/the-us-navys-long-delayed-plan-for-its-future-force-is-nearing-finish-line-sort-of\/","title":{"rendered":"US Navy\u2019s long-delayed plan for its future force is nearing the finish line \u2026 sort of"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINTON \u2014 More than two years after the U.S. Navy publicly announced its plan for a new assessment of what its future force should look like<\/a>, the product of no fewer than three iterations will soon be briefed to the defense secretary, a senior Defense Department official said Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the ultimate product will actually be based on three products, and more war gaming and analysis is expected, Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist<\/a> told a virtual audience at the annual Defense News Conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEarlier this year the secretary asked me to lead a future naval forces study,\u201d Norquist said. “With participation by the Navy, Marine Corps, Joint Staff, OSD [the Office of the Secretary of Defense] and outside advisers, we built three different future fleets. We examined ships and Marine units we have, and those we might build in 2045. We looked at their cost and analytical capabilities, and we war gamed different combinations of ships and maritime forces against different future missions and challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis morning I received the latest inputs from the study participants, and next week I\u2019ll meet with the secretary to go over our findings, which will inform our future investments and exercises and war gaming.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The odyssey of the Navy force structure assessment dates back to at least September 2018, when then-Navy requirements boss Vice Adm. William Merz told the audience at that years’ Defense News Conference the service planned to launch a new force structure assessment<\/a> to update the December 2016 force structure assessment that set the Navy\u2019s goal of creating a 355-ship fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At that point. the 355-ship force structure assessment <\/a>had been in effect for less than two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\t