By
Paul McLeary on January 19, 2021 at 7:16 PM
Navy carriers lined up at Norfolk, Va.
WASHINGTON: The Pentagon will take a hard new look at the Trump Administration’s last-minute shipbuilding plans, presumptive Defense Secretary nominee Lloyd Austin’s said in written responses to questions before today’s nomination hearing.
A new 30-year Shipbuilding Plan is due with the 2022 budget submission expected in March or April, while the Future Naval Force Study (FNFS) would require tens of billions more to be pumped into the Navy’s shipbuilding account a plan that might end up being a non-starter for the new administration saddled with billions in Covid costs and a skyrocketing debt.
By
Paul McLeary on January 11, 2021 at 2:05 PM
Naval Strike Missile
WASHINGTON: After years of discussion, the Navy and Marine Corps are getting ready to see if they can fit long-range anti-ship missiles aboard amphibious ships, expected to play a bigger role in challenging Chinese claims in the Pacific.
Placing the Naval Strike Missile on these smaller flattops would be in keeping with the push to add more punch to the US fleet, as China and Russia push their own long-range weapons out to sea.
“We have these magnificent 600-foot-long, highly survivable, highly LPD 17s,” Marine Maj. Gen. Tracy King, the Navy’s director of expeditionary warfare, told reporters. “The LPDs need the ability to reach out and defend themselves and sink another ship. It’s not from the aspect of using them as a strike platform; it will drastically increase their survivability if the enemy has to honor that threat.”