Preserving America’s Naval Dominance in an Increasingly Dangerous World

Joe Courtney

U.S. Navy, Seapower, Air Force, Naval Dominance, Submarines, Shipbuilding, Strategic Forces, United States, Asia-Pacific, Atlantic, Europe

Over the last few months we have heard increasingly urgent testimony about the growing concern regarding our ability to meet the demand for undersea capabilities.

Recent events around the world clearly demonstrate, the presence and capabilities of our forces on, below and above the seas are in higher demand than at any other time in recent history. Yet these forces are under significant pressure in meeting growing operational needs and keeping pace with developments around the world in the face of limited resources. 

 The 2017 budget request made, in my view, a number of meaningful investments in the capabilities of our air, marine and naval forces while also ensuring that they have the capacity to utilize them. For shipbuilding, the budget requested $18 billion for seven new ships and well as continued construction and overhaul of our carriers – putting our nation on track to reach the goal of a 308 ship Navy in five years.

Our mark builds on this foundation, adding three new ships, including a third Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) to address concerns about our ability to meet the Navy’s stated force requirements of 52 small surface combatants. We also added additional funding to complete a third DDG-51 destroyer that was partially funded last year, and fully authorized continued development of the game-changing Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR). We also add resources for an additional amphibious ship—with flexibility for the Navy to pursue an additional LPD or an accelerated LX(R).

 Our mark also supports and adds to the range of capabilities called for in the 2017 budget that will increase the reach and punch of our forces, such as fully supporting the budget request for continued development of the B-21 long range strike bomber and 15 KC-46A tanker aircraft, both of which will be powered by Pratt & Whitney engines.

We also supported the department’s revised way forward on integrating unmanned capability in our carrier air wings, ensuring that as we move forward on the tanking and ISR focused approach for the near-term, we also preserve precision strike capability as part of the platforms future growth.

We’ve supported a wide range of upgraded weapons and capabilities aimed at increasing the range and lethality of our forces, such anti-surface capability to programs like the SM-6, the Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), incorporating over the horizon capabilities into the LCS, and doubling the number of Tomahawk cruise missiles, among others. A few other items of particular interest I would like to highlight.