Sec. 1024. Sense of Congress regarding a balanced future naval force
347 words·~2 min read·
/bill/113/hr/1960/eh/section-1024A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Congress makes the following findings: The battle force of the Navy must be sufficiently sized and balanced in capability to meet current and anticipated future national security objectives. A robust and balanced naval force is required for the Department of Defense to fully execute the President’s National Security Strategy. To develop and sustain required capabilities the Navy must balance investment and maintenance costs across various ship types, including— aircraft carriers; surface combatants; submarines; amphibious assault ships; and other auxiliary vessels, including support vessels operated by the Military Sealift Command.
Despite a Marine Corps requirement for 38 amphibious assault ships, the Navy possesses only 30 amphibious assault ships with an average of 22 ships available for surge deployment. The inadequate level of investment in Navy shipbuilding over the last 20 years has resulted in— a fragile shipbuilding industrial base, both in the construction yards and secondary suppliers of materiel and equipment; and increased costs per vessel stemming from low production volume. The Department of Defense, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2013 provided $263,000,000 towards the advance procurement of materiel and equipment required to continue the San Antonio LPD 17 amphibious transport dock class to a total of 12 ships, a key first step in rebalancing the amphibious assault ship force structure.
It is the Sense of Congress that— the Department of Defense and the Department of the Navy must prioritize funding towards increased shipbuilding rates to enable the Navy to meet the full-range of combatant commander requests; the Department of the Navy’s future budget requests and the Long Range Plan for the Construction of Naval Forces must realistically anticipate and reflect the true investment necessary to meet stated force structure goals; without modification to Long Range Plan for the Construction of Naval Forces shipbuilding plan, the future of the industrial base that enables construction of large, combat-survivable amphibious assault ships is at significant risk; and the Department of Defense and Congress should act expeditiously to restore the force structure and capability balance of the Navy fleet as quickly as possible.