By Franz-Stefan Gady
Secretary for the Navy Ray Mabus noted in his statement yesterday that the US pivot to Asia is continuing as planned.
Yesterday, Secretary for the U.S. Navy Ray Mabus noted in a testimony in front of the Senate Committee on Armed Services that the United States will field a fleet of 304 ships by 2020 despite an “uncertain budgetary environment” and “the threat of the return of sequestration.”
“Let me state this very clearly: our fleet is growing and will number greater than 300 ships before the end of this decade,” the navy secretary vehemently underlined. The U.S. Navy is requesting $161 billion (a $11.8 billion increase from the previous year) in funds for the fiscal year 2016 budget process.
According to Mabus, the acquisitions plan includes the following:
“We will purchase Virginia Class attack submarines at a rate of two per year for a total of ten across the FYDP [Future Years Defense Program], with the inclusion of the Virginia Payload Module by FY19 for at least one boat per year. We also will continue to procure Arleigh Burke class destroyers at a rate of 2 per year, with the first Flight III DDG funded in FY16 and delivered in FY21. Fourteen ships of the Littoral Combat Ship class, of which at least the last five will be the frigate variant, will also be procured in this FYDP. We will also continue the construction of amphibious ships, mobile landing platforms, high speed vessels, and combat logistics ships.”
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