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CONTACT:
Cynthia L. Brown
202-544-8170
Washington D.C. – Today, Cynthia L. Brown, President of the American Shipbuilding Association, expressed dismay and alarm with the Navy's budget proposal for ships. "Facts, missions, requirements, and capabilities seem to play no role when it comes to the Navy formulating its budget ... budget priorities should match the assets that are the work horses in defending America's security. Unfortunately, the force that does the most in war and peace continues to be under funded in Washington," said Brown.
The Navy has recently proposed a FY'03 budget that would extend for six years the past decade of gross negligence in the shipbuilding account. Despite repeated warnings from Naval Commanders for a larger naval fleet to meet the Nation's security requirements, budgets fail to provide for even the bare-bones minimum 305-ship force structure identified in the 1997 and 2001 Quadrennial Defense Reviews (QDR). Budgets of the last nine years have resulted in a 40-ship shortfall in sustaining a 300-ship Navy. The proposed FY'03 Future Years Defense Plan would increase the shortfall and perpetuate the fleet's declining dive toward 180-ships.
The Navy proposes to buy only one submarine, two surface combatants, and one amphibious assault ship a year. It also recommends delaying acquisition of the next aircraft carrier. A budget that would reflect the minimum 305-ship requirement would entail an annual build rate of ten ships (more than 10-ships a year must be procured to overcome 40-ship shortfall) comprised of:
4.5) Surface Combatants
2) Submarines
2) Amphibious Assault Ships
.25) Aircraft Carriers (one every four years)
.33) Large Deck Amphibious Assault Ships (one every three years)
+ Auxiliary Ships to support the fleet
+ Joint Command and Control Ships
Naval ships were immediately called upon after September 11th to defend our homeland and to wage the war against terrorism in Afghanistan. On October 29th, Chief of Naval Operations Vern Clark stated:
"Today, multiple carrier battle groups are operating together to conduct heavy strike missions against enemy assets. Aircraft from the carriers working in concert with surface combatants and submarines have proven our strategic reach by attacking enemies in a land-locked nation hundreds of miles from the sea. Naval forces are also positioned off U.S. coasts in a return to the traditional Navy role of homeland defense."
While American diplomats were asking governments of countries neighboring Afghanistan for the use of their bases for Air Force and Army personnel and equipment, submarines were already gathering intelligence and aircraft, missiles, and Special Operations Forces were being launched from ships in the Indian Ocean. These mobile military bases and staging areas did not need the permission of foreign governments to launch lethal attacks on the terrorists.
The President and Congress should demand that DOD place its budget priorities on the force that does the most -- naval ships.
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