The subcommittee said that its version
of the national defense authorization
act would not stand in the way of the
navy retiring the older warships. The navy has argued that the vessels
should be retired ahead of schedule as
the modernization efforts were becoming
more expensive and more time-consuming
while at the same time the older
platforms are not reliable or up to the
task to address modern threats.
The service has asked to retire as many
as seven cruisers in fiscal year 2022. 10 of the navy's 1980 era Ticonderoga Class Cruisers underwent a modernization
effort in the early 2000s with an
additional seven being updated in the
past decade. However even the upgraded cruisers have
become costly to repair and maintain. Instead of focusing on those aging
warships, the navy has sought to focus on
newer vessels and the house lawmakers
seem to be in agreement.
The subcommittee's mark of the fiscal
year 2022 defense policy bill which was
released on tuesday, authorized eight
battle force ships. Including two Arleigh Burke Class guided missile destroyers, two Virginia-Class submarines, one Constellation Class Frigate, one Navajo Class Towing, Salvage and Rescue ship, one John Lewis Class Fleet Oiler and one Tiago's ex ocean surveillance ship.
The navy could now move forward with a
plan to decommission as many as seven
cruisers. It was in june that vice admiral, Jim Kilby deputy chief of naval operations
for warfighting requirements and
capabilities OPNAV N9 told lawmakers that keeping
those aging warships would cost the navy
5 billion across the Future Years Defense Program (FYDP).
The seven cruisers the navy wants to
retire in FY-22 or USS San Jacinto (Cg-56), USS Lake Champlain (CG-57), USS Monterey (CG-61), USS Port Royal (CG-73), USS Vela Gulf (CG-72), USS Way City (CG-66) and USS Anzio (CG-68, USNI News reported. The sea power subcommittee's language
contains in othing that prevents the
navy from retiring the cruisers, an aid
for the house armed services committee
told reporters on tuesday.
According to
defense news, if you asked subcommittee chairman Joe Courtney he's looked at this very
closely. He's listened to the navy. he
recognizes the capability that would be
lost if we lose the cruisers but in his
mind with the cruisers we really have
not gotten the life extension that we
hoped to get when we did the service
life extension on the cruisers. The aid
added so it's a very expensive bill about 1.5
billion dollars over the five-year
future years defense program. To even
maintain just those two that were in the
cruiser modernization plan.
So chairman courtney is not of the
opinion that we should be restricting
those retirements. the navy may not want to strike the
cruisers from the rolls just yet, as the
senate armed services committee still
has yet to release its full language of
the NDAA.
However lawmakers in the senate have
already said in a summary that the bill
prohibits early retirement of navy ships
unless the secretary of the navy issues
certain certifications to congress. It is likely a compromise can be worked
out, but the direction of the navy could
soon be determined by lawmakers in DC and it could impact the future fighting
capabilities of the service for decades
to come.
