Battle Force 2045

Lawmaker Calls for New U.S. Maritime Strategy with Pacific Focus

USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) transits the Pacific Ocean on Dec. 18, 2020. US Navy Photo

To counter threats from China, a top U.S. lawmaker Friday called on the U.S. Navy to develop a new maritime strategy that would rebalance how it deploys and strategically scattered persistent deterrent force in an arc throughout the Indo-Pacific region.

Two decades of focus on the Middle East has strained U.S. naval forces and worn out its fleet of carriers, said U.S. Rep Elaine Luria (D-Va.), a retired...

https://news.usni.org/2021/07/30/lawmaker-calls-for-new-u-s-maritime-strategy-with-pacific-focus

Analyst Says Pentagon ‘Walked Away From the 500-ship Navy’

Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Sterett (DDG-104) transits alongside the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68) on Jan. 19, 2021. US Navy Photo

The Navy’s modest shipbuilding request as part of the Fiscal Year 2022 budget shows the Pentagon has “walked away from the 500-ship Navy,” a senior defense analyst said Tuesday.

The Fiscal Year 2022 shipbuilding request is seeking $22.6 billion, a 3 percent drop from Fiscal Year’s 2021 shipbuilding total. The move from the Pentagon shows...

https://news.usni.org/2021/06/01/analyst-says-pentagon-walked-away-from-the-500-ship-navy

Report to Congress on Navy SSN(X) Next-Generation Attack Submarine

The following is the May 10, 2021 Congressional Research Service In Focus report, Navy Next-Generation Attack Submarine (SSN[X]) Program:
Background and Issues for Congress.

From the report

 Introduction and Issue for Congress 

The Navy wants to begin procuring a new class of nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN), called the Next-Generation Attack Submarine or SSN(X), in FY2031. The SSN(X) would be the successor to the Virginia-class SSN design, which the Navy has been procuring since FY1998....

https://news.usni.org/2021/05/11/report-to-congress-on-navy-ssnx-next-generation-attack-submarine

Interview: Elaine Luria Says Navy Needs to Build ‘Battle Force 2025’ Instead of Divesting to Prepare for a 2045 Fight

Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey (CG-61) transits the Mediterranean Sea on March 24, 2021. US Navy Photo

The vice-chair of the House Armed Services Committee does not support the Navy’s “divest to invest” strategy of ridding the fleet of aging and expensive-to-maintain ships and systems to free up money for the development of unmanned platforms and other new technology, saying the sea service needs to focus on getting ready for a near-term battle instead of looking too far...

https://news.usni.org/2021/05/05/interview-elaine-luria-says-navy-needs-to-build-battle-force-2025-instead-of-divesting-to-prepare-for-a-2045-fight

Rep Luria Letter to President Biden on Maritime-centric National Defense Strategy

The following is a March 26, 2021 letter from Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) to President Joe Biden calling for a maritime-focused national defense strategy. Luria is a former surface warfare officer and is currently the vice-chair of the House Armed Services Committee.

March 26, 2021
President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Biden,

I write at a critical juncture in our nation’s history, as we find ourselves again engaged in a great power...

https://news.usni.org/2021/04/01/rep-luria-letter-to-president-biden-on-maritime-centric-national-defense-strategy

Luria: Navy Should Not Decommission Ships Early in Favor of New Construction

Guided-missile cruiser USS Port Royal (CG-73) transits the Strait of Hormuz, Feb. 8, 2021. US Marine Corps Photo

Decommissioning ships that have viable service life at a faster rate than industry can build new ones is not how the Navy should grow the fleet, the vice chairwoman of the House Armed Services Committee said Monday.

Speaking at a Hudson Institute online forum, Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) said “the math doesn’t work” for the Navy to potentially decommission any ships early.

“I don’t see...

https://news.usni.org/2021/03/16/luria-navy-should-not-decommission-ships-early-in-favor-of-new-construction

Top Stories 2020: U.S. Navy Acquisition

Attack boat Vermont (SSN-792) float-off on March 29, 2019. General Dynamics Electric Boats Photo

This post is part of a series of stories looking back at the top naval news from 2020.

2020 may be among the most consequential years for Navy acquisition in recent memory, with the service making big moves in support of its Distributed Maritime Operations operating concept.

2020 was the year the Navy officially started construction on the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine program, a massive...

https://news.usni.org/2020/12/25/top-stories-2020-u-s-navy-acquisition

Navy Confident It Could Build 3 Virginia SSNs a Year, Though More Study Needed On Shipyard Capacity

Attack boat Vermont (SSN-792) float-off on March 29, 2019. General Dynamics Electric Boats Photo

The Navy has “full confidence we can ramp up” to building three attack submarines per year if the Navy buildup proposed by former Defense Secretary Mark Esper were to be enacted, despite ongoing delays in Block IV Virginia-class construction, the program executive officer for submarines said today.

Esper’s Battle Force 2045 called for the Navy to reach 70 to 80 attack submarines, and he specifically ca...

https://news.usni.org/2020/11/18/navy-confident-it-could-build-3-virginia-ssns-a-year-though-more-study-needed-on-shipyard-capacity

No Margin Left: Overworked Carrier Force Struggles to Maintain Deployments After Decades of Overuse

USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) pier side in 2017. US Navy Photo

Navy aircraft carrier operations are up 40 percent this year over last year, even as the service has fewer available for tasking due to maintenance and acquisition challenges.

From January through Oct. 31, U.S. carriers had spent a combined total of 855 days at sea – 258 days more than all of 2019, according to a USNI News analysis of carrier deployments over the last five years.

That heavy carrier usage makes 2020 the busiest year for...

https://news.usni.org/2020/11/12/no-margin-left-overworked-carrier-force-struggles-to-maintain-deployments-after-decades-of-overuse

Submarine Industrial Base Ready to Grow – But Only If Pentagon, Congress Send the Right Signals

Virginia-class submarine Delaware (SSN-791) was moved out of a construction facility into a floating dry dock using a transfer car system in 2018. HII Photo

Huntington Ingalls Industries is confident its businesses are well-positioned for whatever the future of the Navy is – whether it’s the implementation of the Pentagon’s Battle Force 2045 plan or something else implemented by new leadership, according to the chief executive.

HII president and CEO Mike Petters told investors on Thursday that...

https://news.usni.org/2020/11/06/submarine-industrial-base-ready-to-grow-but-only-if-pentagon-congress-send-the-right-signals

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