Boiling point over Navy ship cuts

The Navy is rejecting $17 billion in ordered cuts from its FY 2018 budget. The infighting between the Defense and Navy secretaries is at a boiling point. The Navy has refused to submit a budget that incorporates the cuts over the next five years that SECDEF Ash Carter ordered last December. The standoff has been brewing for months since Carter ordered the Navy to begin cutting shipbuilding programs – such as the Littoral Combat Ship - and investing in weapons systems and aircraft. SECNAV Ray Mabus insists cuts to shipbuilding are the "least reversible" thing because of the long timelines to build, and damage to the industrial bases. Mabus insists it would be foolish to send over a budget with ship cuts when President-elect Trump has gone on record wanting to grow the fleet. SECDEF's office is preparing another letter for the Navy soon that outline his priorities. In December 2015, Carter directed the Navy to cut the overall buy of LCS from 52 to 40 and to pick one variant and builder – Austal USA of Mobile, Ala., or Lockheed Martin of Wisconsin. The deadline for submitting budgets to OSD is Dec. 8. (Source: Navy Times 12/07/16)