Report: Navy can’t afford proposed fleet

The nation's first Littoral Combat Ship, Freedom (LCS 1) makes a side launch during her christening at the Marinette Marine shipyard. Intended to be the first of the U.S. Navy's next-generation small surface combatant for operations close to shore, the program was cancelled after significant cost overruns.

An April 10 research report to Congress on assembling the modern fleet says the Navy’s latest shipbuilding plan cannot achieve its intent of a 313-ship future fleet, up from today’s 275-ship force.

“The Navy’s 30-year shipbuilding plan does not include enough ships to fully support all the elements of the 313-ship fleet consistently over the long run,” according to the report entitled “Navy Force Structure and Shipbuilding Plans: Background and Issues for Congress,” produced by the Congressional Research Service.

The Navy has estimated that it needs about $13.5 billion per year into the foreseeable future to build the required fleet. But according to the analysis by Ron O’Rourke, naval analyst at CRS, it’s not enough.

Read the rest at Navy Times

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