Lanterna Rally

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Published: 2015-08-05

Total Pages: 376

ISBN-13: 9781332257621

Excerpt from Department of Defense Authorization for Appropriations for Fiscal Year 1996 and the Future Years Defense Program, Vol. 2: Hearings Before the Committee on Armed Services United States Senate One Hundred Fourth Congress First Session on S. 1026 Our witnesses this morning are Hon. Nora Slatkin, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, and Acquisition; and Vice Adm. Joe Lopez, the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations Resources, Warfare Requirements, and Assessments. The titles are so comprehensive it is clear that there are very few, if any, areas within the Department of the Navy that our two witnesses do not personally touch the decision making authority in some way. Consequently, they are both in an excellent position to address the thorn modernization and procurement issues that this years defense budget forces us to confront. Although current readiness is a central concern of the full committee, I intend to focus our inquiry today on current trends in the Navy's plans for recapitalization and modernization, with specific emphasis on its shipbuilding program. A quick review of the defense budget is revealing: It has declined continuously over the past 10 years. Investment accounts, procurement, Rd have declined 60 percent. The procurement budget is at its lowest level since before the Korean war. This decline has been both absolute and relative. The relative weightings of the investment and operating accounts have been inverted; procurement has become the bill paver for efforts to prop up current readiness. These continuously declining defense budgets, particularly in an environment of unexpectedly intense operational demands, have generated conditions that prevent the Navy and the other military departments from adequately planning beyond the budget year. Annual requirements-based budgeting, during a downward budget spiral, has become an exercise in 5-year planning one year at a time as new reactive, short-notice cuts are directed each year. This budget, like the previous two, forces recapitalization further into the out years, creating a modernization bow wave that may prove insurmountable. While catch phrases such as "recapitalization" and "rightsizing" convey an optimistic view of the future, the numbers tell quite a different story. In last years budget, the Department planned to procure 22 ships during the fiscal years 1996 through 1999. This years budget plans for only 15, a decrease of some 30 percent. Further, the fleet that must be sustained has increased in size as operational demands have outpaced last years rightsizing project projections. Last year the Navy, spoke of a fleet of about 330 ships. This year it has been forced to buy back a number of FFG-7s to meet the intense operational demands of post-Cold War littoral operations. This year's budget will produce only three ships. It proposes the final increment or payment for the SSN-23 and procures only two other service combatants. Next year's budget will do no better. Simple arithmetic makes it clear that we are not buying enough ships in the foreseeable future to sustain a fleet of about 345 ships, including 11 aircraft carriers. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.