New 30-Yr shipbuild plan coming

WASHINGTON, DC – In February, the Defense Department will send an FY 2019 budget request to Congress that will include a 30-year shipbuilding plan. In recent years, the Navy has made 30-year shipbuilding plans to outline proposed ship procurements and decommissionings to provide a detailed idea of near-, mid- and long-term views within the fleet. The plans generally lose reliability in out-years, but somewhat helpful as planning tools for industry and lawmakers. But, the Navy did not make a 30-year request plan with its FY-18 request or five-year spending request projections. Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer promised the House Armed Services Committee on Jan. 18 that the Navy can expect a 30-year plan with the FY-19 request that is slated for release during the first week of February. Navy just wrapped up an analysis on three shipbuilding rates: Current production, normalized curve, and aggressive curve rates. The middle- and high-rate options would balance Navy’s needs while taking care of the industrial base. Smoothing out the curve would be an “excellent solution for both the industrial base and for us,” SECNAV said, with one caveat: If the Navy needs ships in an “expedited rate, we’re going to have to go there.” CNO Adm. John Richardson said the plan will show historical shipbuilding context to 1955, which makes clear the “devastating effect of the peace dividend” on the ship-building industrial base. More than 12 shipyards have shuttered in that timeframe leaving the remaining yards with less capacity. “We really need to protect that treasure with everything we can.” HASC member Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.) reminded Navy leaders that Congress added five ships to the Navy’s plans in the FY-18 request, and expects to see continued uptick of shipbuilding. “We expect a large investment in shipbuilding to relieve the stress” on the fleet, he said. (Source: USNI NEWS 01/18/18) Gulf Coast Note: Rep. Bryne’s Alabama district is home to Austal USA shipyard, which builds one of two classes of Littoral Combat Ships, and the Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF).