Navy budget: The game begins

Defense Secretary Ash Carter had already signaled that LCS program cuts were planned

FEBRUARY 10, 2015 — The Department of the Navy’s $164 billion FY 2017 budget submission is lower than widely expected by defense analysts.

It is 3.5 percent less than last years spending projections and down two-and-a-half percent from the FY 2016 budget submission totals.

It’s no surprise that one of the areas where savings are sought is shipbuilding, with Defense Secretary Ash Carter having already signaled his plans to cut back on the LCS program in a series of meetings with service members and members of the defense community.

The table below shows what ships are being budgeted for and the video sets out the overall Navy budget philosophy.

The whole thing, of course, is just among the opening gambits in a game that will only be decided by the Congress. Warming up for play are Congressmen with LCS shipbuilders and suppliers in their districts. And, as we reported earlier, the Amphibious Warship Industrial Base Coalition (AWIBC), which represents suppliers to the amphibious warships construction program has already written urging Congress to fund the next generation LX(R) class in FY2017 so that construction can start in FY2018, rather than FY2020, as currently planned by the Navy.