Potential cuts eyed
Navy Of Tomorrow Could Have Fewer Cruisers, Aircraft Carriers
Inside the Pentagon - 09/01/2011
To save billions of dollars in the coming years, the Navy may keep fewer cruisers and aircraft carriers in its fleet while preserving major investments in attack submarines, destroyers and littoral warships, according to former service officials and industry sources.
The Pentagon is hunting for savings in the fiscal year 2013 budget process to implement required security spending cuts totaling hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade. The Navy, meanwhile, is mulling how to retreat from its goal of a 313-ship fleet to a more affordable target in the 200s.
To that end, the service is considering retiring at least a handful of its aging Ticonderoga-class cruisers, these sources said. This would be a departure from the ongoing multibillion-dollar program to modernize the fleet's 22 cruisers. An industry source said the department will likely "significantly cut" modernization funding for the cruisers, slashing money for upgrades to the ships and their Aegis combat systems. Initially, the Navy might retire six cruisers, former service officials said. But the ultimate goal might be to retire them all, one former official added.
Last year, the Navy killed its next-generation cruiser program, CG(X), opting instead to develop new warships based on the design of Arleigh Burke-class DDG-51 destroyers. Sources said the Navy's high priorities include Aegis-equipped destroyers, which are assigned key missions such as missile defense, and Littoral Combat Ships, which are designed to combat fast boats, hidden submarines and mines close to enemy shores.
Although the numbers of cruisers and destroyers in the fleet are already slated to fall substantially below required levels in the coming decades, that officially acknowledged gap could fade away if the Navy, as anticipated, significantly lowers its goal for the size of the fleet. Today, the fleet has 284 ships in its battle force, despite the 313-ship goal. Describing the range of options pondered for the new goal, an industry source said, "I have heard as low as 225, but nothing more than 285."
In another potential major change, Navy is looking at reducing the number of aircraft carriers in the fleet to nine or eight, sources said. A force of nine carriers would be accomplished by not refueling the nuclear-powered George Washington (CVN-73), said a former service official, noting the Navy is also mulling cutting six aircraft squadrons. Another source noted the Navy is also considering delaying the purchase of the John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) by two years, as Defense News reported in July. An industry source said scenarios discussed within the Navy include a 240-ship fleet with eight carriers and seven strike groups and a 250-ship fleet with 10 carriers and nine strike groups.
As the fleet shrinks, Navy officials want to preserve the department's plans to continue building two nuclear-powered Virginia-class attack submarines per year, sources said, noting the stealthiness of these subs makes them especially valuable warfighting assets.
But the cost of another submarine program -- SSBN(X), also known as the Ohio-class replacement -- remains a concern for the Navy. The 12-sub program could be delayed and cut by two subs, sources said. And it will be funded within the shipbuilding account, not in a separate account as the sea service's top admiral has advocated, Defense Department acquisition chief Ashton Carter told Inside the Pentagon in March. But the program's massive cost would consume a major portion of the account. Buying and operating a dozen new nuclear ballistic missile submarines will cost the department $347 billion over the life of the boats, Carter wrote in February in an acquisition decision memorandum.
DOD also faces concerns about the fate of the FY-12 defense budget. All eyes are on Senate appropriators, who are slated to mark up their FY-12 defense bill sometime after Labor Day. A former service official said the Senate appropriations defense subcommittee is expected to cut DOD's $553 billion baseline request to roughly $526 billion. This cut of about $27 billion -- "a tall order" -- is needed to keep the budget under the security spending caps that were agreed to in a deficit-reduction deal this summer, the source said. A subcommittee spokesman declined to comment on the panel's forthcoming spending recommendations.
Another key question is how DOD's budget will be impacted by the work of a congressional supercommittee tasked with proposing $1.5 trillion in new deficit-reduction measures. If the panel fails to come up with at least $1.2 trillion in savings, a trigger in the deal could confront DOD with additional cuts totaling hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said such cuts are unlikely but would be unacceptable.
Given the unlikelihood that the FY-12 defense budget will be finalized before the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, defense officials are readying once again to operate under a continuing resolution. "The department expects Congress to complete the appropriations process by Oct. 1," said a Pentagon spokeswoman. "As in most fiscal years, the department is prepared to execute its program under a continuing resolution. The department will work with Congress to make sure it has the critical legal authorities to keep operating and support the deployed troops." During the last budget cycle, Congress subjected DOD to a string of continuing resolutions.
"The biggest concern about operating under a string of continuing resolutions is the uncertainty which undermines any planning efforts," the Pentagon spokeswoman said. "Any new starts will be precluded and contracting for support services will have to be broken into smaller increments with all the attendant inefficiencies." -- Christopher J. Castelli