Inside Defense
Feb. 1, 2010 -- The Navy plans to buy nine ships and 206 aircraft with its $160.6 billion fiscal year 2011 budget request, released this afternoon. The budget terminates the CG(X) cruiser and EPX spy plane efforts and delays the purchase of a new command ship beyond FY-15, pushing the procurement of the Marine Corps' Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle back by one year to correct developmental issues.
The request includes $15.7 billion in shipbuilding, including the purchase of a Joint High Speed Vessel for the Army. The nine ships the Navy plans to buy in FY-11 are two DDG-51 guided-missile destroyers, two Littoral Combat Ships, two Virginia-class attack submarines, one amphibious assault ship replacement (LHA-R), one Mobile Landing Platform and a Joint High Speed Vessel.
The $18.5 billon aircraft request would purchase 13 short-takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) F-35 Joint Strike Fighters for the Marine Corps, seven carrier-variant JSFs, 22 F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighters, 12 EA-18G Growler electronic attack planes, four E-2D Hawkeyes, seven P-8A maritime patrol aircraft, 28 AH-1Z/UH-1Y helicopters, 30 MV-22 tiltrotors, 24 MH-60R helos, 18 MH-60S helos, three MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned helicopters and 38 T-6A/B training jets.
Marine Corps procurement totals $1.3 billion in the request, down from $1.5 billion requested in FY-10. Other Navy procurement in the request totals $6.5 billion. The request also includes $17.7 billion in research and development funds.
Further, the proposed spending package includes nearly $26 billion for active-duty Navy personnel and approximately $13.3 billion for active-duty Marines.
Today's budget announcement officially disclosed the cancellation of the CG(X) cruiser program, for which the Pentagon cited “affordability concerns.”
“Instead of procuring CG(X), the Navy is considering other options including maturing the air and missile defense radar program and using technologies from other similar kinds of ships such as DDG-1000 and DDG-51 destroyers,” states the service's FY-11 budget highlights book.
Budget justification documents published by the Office of Management and Budget outlined delays in the Marine Corps' EFV program. “Delaying procurement one year while maintaining [research and development funding] gives the Marine Corps more time to correct the EFV's problems before making large investments in procurement,” the OMB document states.
Similarly, the Navy will wait until after FY-15 to move forward with plans to replace its fleet of amphibious command ships. “The Navy is proposing to delay LCC-R because the service life of the two command ships currently in operation can be extended,” the justification document states.
The budget request includes $18.5 billion in Navy and Marine “overseas contingency operations” funding to support the ongoing war effort in Afghanistan. -- Zachary M. Peterson
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