U.S. Navy Force Structure and Shipbuilding Plans
There has been shrinkage for years in the US Navy for years now. The size of Navy has ranged between 270 and 300 ships in the recent years. In 2016, United States Navy announced a force structure goal and effective plan to attain and maintain a fleet of 355 ships. Given (Table.1) shows the actual composition of the 355-ship force-level objective.
2016 Force Structure Assessment (FSA) obtained 355-Ship Goal
FSA is an analysis process where the Navy solicits inputs from U.S. regional combatant commanders (CCDRs) concerning the types and capabilities of Navy ships, aircraft, unmanned vehicles, and weapons, as well as ship home porting arrangements and operational cycles to fulfill the necessary required numbers of ships, and projected Navy ship types. The analysis takes into account Navy capabilities for both war fighting and day-to-day forward-deployed presence. The Navy conducts a new FSA or an update to the existing FSA every few years, as circumstances require, to determine its force-structure goal.
355-Ship Goal Is a Top Notch Priority of U.S. Administration
Trump Administration identified the achievement of a Navy of 355 or more ships within 10 years as a high priority. According to Navy its working well as it can under the Navy budget which is essentially flat in real (i.e., inflation-adjusted terms), to achieving the desired goal. The 355-ship goal is a priority and they clearly want to avoid creating a so-called hollow force, means Navy has a adequate number of ships but is unable to properly crew, arm, operate, and maintain those ships.
Navy’s Fiscal Year (FY2021)
In Fiscal Year (FY2021) Defense Budget, Navy budget submission shows LPD-31, an LPD-17 Flight II amphibious ship, and the amphibious assault ship LHA-9 as a ship projected for procurement in FY2023. Navy’s FY2020 budget treats LPD-31 and LHA-9 as ships that Congress procured (i.e., authorized and provided procurement funding for) in FY2020.
Additionally, Navy proposed the procurement of seven new ships rather than eight Shipbuilding Request in FY2021. Including:
- One Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine (SSBN)
- One Virginia-class attack submarine (SSN),
- Two DDG-51 destroyers,
- One FFG(X) frigate, and
- Two TATS towing, salvage, and rescue ships.
Five-Year (FY2021-FY2025) Shipbuilding Plan
In FY2021 five-year (FY2021-FY2025) shipbuilding plan, Navy includes 44 new ships (Table 2), but this figure includes the LPD-31 and LHA amphibious ships which Congress procured in FY2020. If excluding these two ships, the Navy’s FY2021 5-year shipbuilding plan includes 42 new ship.
Upcoming 30-Year Shipbuilding Plans
Currently Navy has not yet submitted its FY2021 30-year (FY2021-FY2050) shipbuilding plan. As a placeholder pending the submission of that plan, (Table 3) shows the Navy’s FY2020 30-year (FY2020-FY2049) 30-year shipbuilding plan included 304 new ships, or an average of about 10 per year.
In terms of dollar, United States Navy is requesting about $19.9 billion for its shipbuilding account for FY2021.
