The Navy Gets a Summer Bonus

Great summary from Sam LaGrone on the basket of goodies that came out of the SASC earlier this week.

Some nice things, a funny thing or two, and an interesting item.

First, the nice things;

The Senate Armed Services Committee version of the Fiscal Year 2018 National Defense Authorization Act ... that spends more than $20 billion above the Trump administration’s request
...
Specifically for the Navy, the SASC is adding $5 billion to the shipbuilding and conversion fund, bringing it to $25 billon. ... funds for five more ships than the Pentagon’s budget submission. Included is a third Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer ... advance procurement of Virginia-class attack submarines ... an additional amphibious warship ... a new Expeditionary Sea Base ... eight Ship to Shore Connectors, five more than the administration called for.

I guess we'll have to wait for next year for my new construction LCC & T-AH, but this is nice.

He also has some aviation numbers. Of note, they've doubled the Super Hornet buy. Smart.

Here is a funny bit;

Absent from the executive summary provided to the public on Wednesday is any mention of the Littoral Combat Ship ship construction.

Damning with faint praise is one thing, getting ignored is another. The market has spoken, but LCS will hang about like an albatross around our neck anyway.

Now for the interesting;

Among one of the largest departures for the SASC, their bill sets aside $30 million for the Navy for a preliminary design effort to create a light carrier for the service.

Yes ... more carrier battles.

For those following me on twitter, we bounced an idea or two around. My take, if you mated an USS AMERICA (LHA 6) with a HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH (R08), you'd get something about the size of the USS MIDWAY (CV 41).

I look forward to the results of the study.

Until then, if you want to grow your understanding of the small-medium-large / conventional-nuke tradeoffs, I highly recommend this video with CAPT Tal Manvel, USN (Ret).



Hat tip Claude