The Navy’s plan to reach its desired fleet goal is impossible under the current levels of funding, the service’s warfighting, requirements and capabilities officer said this week.
Last year, the Navy delivered an assessment to Congress stating that “a future battle force objective of 381 ships is required to meet future campaigning and warfighting demands,” according to a report in USNI News.
The Navy’s budget would have to grow 3 to 5 percent above inflation to meet that goal, Vice Adm. James Pitts told an audience at an event hosted by the U.S. Naval Institute and the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Tuesday.
Instead, Pitts said the budget requests for the Pentagon could fall to about 2 percent of gross domestic product which would “the lowest since the 1920s.” If kept at that level, the 381-ship fleet would be unobtainable.
Read the rest of the story at USNI News.