Report questions US Navy plan to grow and maintain its fleet

The Hudson Institute reports the US Navy fails to fully fund operations and support costs for warships like guided-missile destroyer USS Laboon, shown here. (Janes/Michael Fabey)

The US Navy may be unable to build and sustain its way to a larger fleet as the service plans to do, according to a recent report by the Hudson Institute.

The Hudson Institute's report, Righting the Ship: Building a Relevant US Navy Fleet for Twenty-First-Century Deterrence and Combat, released on 3 November, argued that the navy's fleet plan was “unsustainable”.

The institute reported, “The navy is unlikely to receive more than USD100 billion a year — more than double today's cost in inflation-adjusted terms — to maintain, crew, and sustain the fleet that the FY [fiscal year] 2027 shipbuilding plan produces by 2045.”

It added, “The government's plan to massively increase shipbuilding funding is unlikely to expand the industrial base or accelerate construction because it failed to exploit new technologies like its adversaries.” The navy cannot grow the fleet in its current form due to fiscal and industrial constraints, the institute said, adding, “As a result, since the Cold War, the navy has been meeting its increasing demands with a shrinking force.”

Asked to address the concerns and observations noted in the Hudson Institute report, a USN official told Janes on 9 November, “The navy is aggressively modernising its surface fleet to outpace adversary capabilities through the deployment of highly adaptable tailored force packages and tailored offsets, to include both manned and unmanned systems. Through targeted upgrades to existing combat systems and the procurement of advanced munitions, our focus remains on delivering a balanced, sustainable mix of platforms and exceptionally trained warfighters capable of controlling the seas in any contested environment today and tomorrow.”