Yeah, doesn't bode well looking at it. They are still powerfull global trouble makers for decades to come even with a shrinking fleet... China have the luxury of building it up without the burden of a huge cold war oriented fleet..The US will need to sort their marbles and choose what they want for their fleet, continue with their cold war navy doctrine or chosing something else.
US Military News, Reports, Data, etc.
- Thread starter tphuang
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Lieutenant General
The US fleet is choosing to maintain the status quo at all cost, regardless what the situation is. Consequences be damn.
Hmm I don't really have a good understanding of the political tug of war that plays out between congress and the US military brass, but it generally seems like the military wants to get rid of their existing inventory for shiny new toys and projects, whereas congress tries to save as many as possible from retiring.
I think at a certain point during the previous decade the US was dealing with double whammy of Sequestration and decades long War on Terror. Once the budget was slashed during sequestration, but military operations continued without pause the choice was made to delay maintenance to keep up deployments. This was universal across the entire Armed Forces, and greatly contributed to everything you started to see playing out in the mid '10s from those destroyed accidents to low availability of aircraft. This dug a huge hole for them, which they are attempting to get out of. Also mistakes were made on which platforms to pursue (like LCS) or cutting programs like the F-22 short. So really just a number of things coming together to make matters worse. At least that is what I have gathered from just reading things on the web.
I think the US Armed Forces need an Inflation Reduction Act sort of type of legislation. During the late '30s / early '40s there was a piece of legislation passed (forget the name now) that authorized the construction of 1.3 million tonnes of new ships. I think it remains the largest single investment in the US Navy to this day. I think you need something like that for the Air Force and Navy now to help dig them out of this whole. So likely several hundred billion dollars worth of guaranteed purchases over the next five to seven years outside of the normal budget process.
I think the US Armed Forces need an Inflation Reduction Act sort of type of legislation. During the late '30s / early '40s there was a piece of legislation passed (forget the name now) that authorized the construction of 1.3 million tonnes of new ships. I think it remains the largest single investment in the US Navy to this day. I think you need something like that for the Air Force and Navy now to help dig them out of this whole. So likely several hundred billion dollars worth of guaranteed purchases over the next five to seven years outside of the normal budget process.
What would be the answer of China for that ? : )
And the other part of the story, the USA is not the sole industrial power on the Earth any more.
But generally, the USA procurment / organisation plans alleways assumed full superiority over the oppontents on all aspect, including economical/logistic/supply chain.
Means they are very ineffective, and depending on the capability of the MIC to pump out weapons in mass for cheap.
And it is not there anymore.
I don't think they need an answer. They already have a strong shipbuilding industry and a lot of new ships. So they are kind of facing different situations. The US wants to expand the number of ships it has, but that will be pretty difficult. So you might end up with a similar sized or slightly larger navy made up of much newer vessels.
The might have been the largest manufacturing nation for last 100 or so years, but they certainly weren't the only industrial power over that time. The British Empire, Germany, The Soviet Union all had large industrial output over that period. During the mid to late 80s, Japan's economy was almost as large as the US if I am remembering correctly.
Battle Order talking about the Army's considerations and plans on restructuring from various brigade combat teams under divisions as their basic deployable unit back to divisions and corps for large scale combat operations against near-pear armed forces. This video primarily focuses on the role of tank divisions as a spearhead element in combination with other maneuver divisions in a corp, and its subordinate brigades and battalions in areas of operation.
First Images Of SPY-6 Radar Installed On New Flight III Arleigh Burke Destroyer
The U.S. Navy's future Arleigh Burke class destroyer, the USS Jack H. Lucas, the first example , now has the fixed-face arrays for its powerful installed on its main superstructure. Also known as the Air and Missile Defense Radar, or AMDR, this is the Flight III design's signature sensor and offers a major boost in capability over on earlier Arleigh Burkes.
Jack H. Lucas, which was laid down in 2019, is currently in the process of being fitted out at a yard belonging to the Ingalls Shipbuilding division of Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Longtime naval journalist was able to tour the ship and take photographs of it on August 4. Cavas was kind enough to share some of the pictures he took with us.
The future USS Jack H. Lucas being fitted out at the Ingalls Shipbuilding yard in Pascagoula, Mississippi on August 4, 2022. The future USS Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee, a Flight IIA Arleigh Burke class destroyer, is right behind Jack H. Lucas, offering a good comparison between the fixed-face antennas for the new AN/SPY-6(V)1 radar and those for the older AN/SPY-1D fitted to earlier ships of this class. The future USS Bougainville, a subvariant of the America class amphibious assault ship, can also be seen under construction behind the two destroyers. Chris Cavas photo
The destroyer is named after Jacklyn "Jack" Lucas, who was the youngest recipient of the Medal of Honor during World War II, and whose extremely colorful career with the U.S. Marines and later the U.S. Army you can read more about .
HII Lays Keel Of 4th DDG 51 Flight III Destroyer
The keel for the future USS Jeremiah Denton (DDG 129), a Flight III Arleigh-Burke class destroyer was ceremonially laid at Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding division, August 16.
17 Aug 2022NAVSEA press release
The ship is named for former Senator Jeremiah Denton, Jr., a Vietnam War veteran who was awarded the Navy Cross for his heroism as a prisoner of war. Following his Navy career, he was elected to the U.S. Senate representing his home state of Alabama in 1980.
The contemporary keel laying ceremony represents the joining together of a ship’s modular components at the land level. The keel is authenticated with the ship sponsors’ initials etched into a ceremonial keel plate as part of the ceremony. Co-sponsors of DDG 129 are the daughters of the namesake, Madeline Denton Doak and Mary Denton Lewis.
A photo from keel authentication ceremony (US Navy photo)
The DDG 51 Flight III upgrade is centered on the AN/SPY-6(V)1 Air and Missile Defense Radar and incorporates upgrades to the electrical power and cooling capacity plus additional associated changes to provide greatly enhanced warfighting capability to the fleet. Flight III is the latest Flight upgrade in the more than 30-year history of the class, building on the proud legacy of Flight I, II and IIA ships before it.
HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding is also in production on the future USS Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG 123), the future (DDG 125), the future USS Ted Stevens (DDG 128) and the future USS George M. Neal (DDG 131).
Naval News comments: About DDG 51 Flight III Destroyer
Flight III destroyers will have improved capability and capacity to perform Anti-Air Warfare and Ballistic Missile Defense in support of the Integrated Air and Missile Defense mission. This system delivers quick reaction time, high firepower, and increased electronic countermeasures capability for Anti-Air Warfare.
The Flight III design contains modifications from the earlier DDG 51 class, to enable the , in association with Aegis Baseline 10, which includes larger electronically scanned arrays and the power generation and cooling equipment required to operate the powerful new radar.
The US doesn't have a strong shipbuilding industry. What we see are privatised monopolies or duopolies at almost every stage of the shipbuilding supply chain.
And if the US wanted to ramp up shipbuilding significantly, it couldn't do this affordably and quickly because they don't have the supporting heavy industry supply chain (which is largely commercial) nor the personnel from other manufacturing industries to draw upon.