Congress is considering authorizing to buy up to 15 guided-missile destroyers for the Navy over the next five years, legislative sources told USNI News on May 12. The deal would be a 10-ship, multi-year funding with options to buy five more Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyers between FY 2023-27. The work would be split between General Dynamics Bath (Maine) Iron Works and Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss. If approves, the contract would extend the DDG-51 line to 104 hulls (through DDG-153). The move would push the Navy well over its initial FY-23 budget request. The Navy asked for a 9-ship multi-year deal with an option for a 10th. The multi-year deal would set HII and BIW on a path to build three ships a year, with the majority of the work likely headed to Ingalls, USNI News is reporting. BIW has been plagued with production setbacks over the last several years. (Source: USNI News 05/12/22) Congress Wants Potential 15 Hull, 5-year Destroyer Deal at 3 Ships a Year - USNI News
CNO: Navy unprepared to fight 2 wars -WASHINGTON - Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday told members of the Senate Armed Service Committee that the Navy is unprepared to fight wars in separate regions without more ships. The current fleet of about 298 ships is "sized to fight one and keep a second adversary in check, but in terms of two all-out conflicts, we are not sized for that.” In 2018, Congress passed a law requiring the Navy to reach a 355-ship fleet “as soon as practicable,” but the number of ships has dropped due to budget requirements. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) asked CNO about Navy's operational impact "if we had to withhold Navy forces from Europe in order to deter Chinese aggression in (the Pacific)? Navy would be “challenged” to meet both needs, CNO answered. (Source: Stars & Stripes 05/12/22)
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