BRUNSWICK
Despite President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to increase work for shipyards like Bath Iron Works, plans for a 350-ship Navy will have to wait for the president’s next budget.
The Trump administration’s full budget for 2018 includes a number of cuts to discretionary domestic spending programs to offset an increased Department of Defense budget. BIW, however, will have little to show for the increased funding in the 2018 fiscal year.
The Navy’s budget provides funding for two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, which are generally split between BIW and Hunting- ton Ingalls Shipbuilding in Mississippi. This essentially maintains the status quo for that class of ship.
At a Defense Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, questioned Acting Secretary of the Navy Sean Stackley as to why the 2018 Navy budget doesn’t reflect a Navy Force Assessment that calls for increasing the fleet to 355 ships.
“If you read the Navy’s study, there’s a sense of urgency, it says we need a more powerful fleet in the 2020s, not the 2040s,” said Collins. “It goes on to say the Navy must get to work now to build more ships.
“And yet as I look at this budget, it appears to continue President Obama’s 30- year shipbuilding plan and does not seem to reflect the latest assessment by the Navy, which has also been endorsed by the president, who’s indicated his support for a 350-ship Navy. Did your budget request get cut by OMB?”
Stackley clarified that their budget request was not cut, but reflects their focus on increasing the Navy’s readiness with the 2018 budget. The 2019 budget will tackle the challenge of growing the capacity and capability of the fleet, he added, and that process will be informed by the ongoing Defense Strategy Review.
“The priority in this budget is to restore readiness for the force,” said Stackley in response. “The best way to increase — whether it’s your ship count or your aircraft count on deployment, in-theater where your need it — is to raise the readiness of the in-service fleet.
“While today we do in fact hold what we had in the prior budget request, we look forward in the 2019 budget to build on this foundation,” he added.
nstrout@timesrecord.com
2 destroyers
• THE NAVY’S budget provides funding for two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, which are generally split between Bath Iron Works and Huntington Ingalls Shipbuilding in Mississippi.
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