No Money for Carrier Refueling; 11 Cruisers, 3 Amphibs To Be 'Laid Up'
By CHRISTOPHER P. CAVAS
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon leadership doubled back Monday on its direction for the US Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program, returning to where things stood at the beginning of the year: End procurement at 32 ships — 20 short of the previously planned goal — and begin work on development of a new small surface combatant.
Acting Deputy Defense Secretary Christine Fox, in a Jan. 6 memo, directed the service to cap the LCS buy at 32 ships. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus vigorously protested, and something of a compromise was tentatively agreed to — essentially awarding no block buys past current purchases pending a successful evaluation of the ship by the Pentagon’s Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E).
But that agreement seems to have been tossed overboard, and, in a Pentagon press conference Monday to discuss the budget, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced his intention to cut short the full LCS buy.
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