Today's US Navy Photos & Videos
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GULF OF AQABA, Jordan (April 30, 2015) Quartermaster 3rd Class Michelle Perkins, attached to Commander, Task Group 56.7.2, mans an M240 machine gun near the Royal Jordanian naval base for a security operation exercise, in preparation for exercise Eager Lion 2015.
Equation
Lieutenant General
Is there a choice?
"A battle of the hawks is raging on Capitol Hill. Defense hawks say the nation's security will be endangered if the caps imposed under the 2011 Budget Control Act aren't lifted, allowing for more defense spending."
With those words, retired Capt. Henry (Jerry) Hendrix at his former employer, the U.S. Navy. He also raised a question of great importance to investors in the defense industry: Does Congress need to spend more on the military, such that defense contractors should expect a big boost in revenue in the near future? Or can we get by on what we already have?
The Navy, you see, already boasts a $161 billion annual budget. Hendrix's critique, though, centers more on how the Navy spends that money than on its absolute amount. He summed up his argument in the pages of the in six short words:
The Navy "needs to stop building aircraft carriers."
Stranger words were never spokenThat might sound strange, coming from the pen of a former Navy aviator. Yet Hendrix argued the point well. As he sees it, the Navy has four primary problems today:
All of this stems from the devotion of too many resources to building aircraft carriers, and investing in other ships and weapons systems designed to protect a carrier-centric fleet.
- a budget crisis
- a falling ship count
- an "atrophying" strategic position
- "marginal combat effectiveness."
Opportunity costAs Hendrix explained, a 94,000-ton Nimitz-class carrier (as pictured above) costs $5 billion to build. That's about a third of the Navy's annual shipbuilding budget. But the new 100,000-tonGerald R. Ford-class carriers will cost $14 billion each -- nearly one full year's worth of shipbuilding dollars.
Aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, still under construction. Photo source: .
That same money, if differently deployed, could buy the Navy "seven missile-laden destroyers, or seven submarines, or 28 frigates, or 100 joint high-speed vessels," according to Hendrix. Or the Navy could mix and match, and build an entire war fleet for the cost of just one new aircraft carrier.
So how does all of this relate to the Navy's supposed budget crisis, falling ship count, strategic weakness, and diminished combat effectiveness? Consider this: If $14 billion can buy you just one aircraft carrier -- but 100 JHSVs -- then it's easy to see how a simple reallocation of funds could raise the Navy's ship count to 300, 400, or even 500 warships in just a few years.
At the same time, from an investor's perspective, growing the Navy does not necessarily mean increasing the defense budget -- or the revenue streams of America's two primary shipbuilders, General Dynamics (NYSE: ) and Huntington Ingalls (NYSE: ) . If Hendrix's advice is heeded, the Navy could grow, even as revenue at General D and Huntington remain flat. (On the plus side, though, there would also be no need to chip away at these companies' operating profit margins, which puts at a healthy 11% to 13%.)
Now, granted, not all warships are created equal. A frigate, destroyer, or submarine might not pack the punch of a fully fledged nuclear supercarrier. On the other hand, 100 JHSVs -- each potentially armed with , or even -- just might. And because those warships could be widely distributed, they'd be more useful at "showing the flag" missions, and at extending naval security to more points around the globe than can be reached by any one carrier group .
Opportunity and riskIndeed, perhaps Hendrix's most damning critique of today's aircraft carriers is that they might not be as useful as we think. As he pointed out, "Americans are willing to risk their lives for important reasons, but they have also become increasingly averse to casualties." Each Ford-class aircraft carrier carries a crew of 4,800, yet is vulnerable to just one lucky strike by an opposing force.
French Rubis-class nuclear attack submarine Améthyste. It might not look like much -- but its twin virtually "sank" a U.S. aircraft carrier earlier this year. Photo source: .
, a recent Navy war game pitted U.S. Carrier Strike Group 12, including the USS Theodore Roosevelt and its several escorting cruisers, destroyers, and submarines, against a French navy Saphir-class submarine. In the course of the exercise, the French submarine simulated an attack on the group, successfully "eliminating" first the aircraft carrier, then most of its escort.
This was just a simulation, but Hendrix warned that in real life, "Losing a platform with nearly 5,000 American souls onboard would not just raise an outcry, but would undermine public faith in elected officials." As a result, it's highly unlikely the U.S. Navy would put a large aircraft carrier into harm's way in a situation where such a loss was even remotely possible -- although these are exactly the kinds of situations the carrier was designed to take on.
This, said Hendrix, "violates a core principle of war: Never introduce an element that you cannot afford to lose."
USS Theodore Roosevelt -- too valuable to risk in combat? Photo source: .
does not own shares of, nor is he short, any company named above. You can find him on CAPS, publicly pontificating under the handle , where he's currently ranked No. 327 out of more than 75,000 rated members.
Six US Marine Corps F-35B aircraft are aboard the USS Wasp, LHD-1, for operational testing for the next two weeks. Six aircraft is a full squadron of US Marine strike fighters for these LHD vessels and this testing will represent full operational testing with flight operations, maintenance, logistics, repairs, etc.
And these are production, operational aircraft, not prototypes or pure test aircraft.
Here are some of the initial pictures.
Four F-35B Lighting II Joint Strike Fighters sit secured to the deck after their arrival aboard the USS Wasp (LHD-1), May 18, 2015. Six aircraft are participating in full operational te4sting aboard the Wasp from May 18-June 1st.
Two F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters complete vertical landings aboard the USS Wasp (LHD-1) during the opening day of the first session of operational testing, May 18, 2015. Six aircraft are participating in full operational te4sting aboard the Wasp from May 18-June 1st.
An F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter idles on the flight deck of the USS Wasp (LHD-1) in preparation for take-off, May 18, 2015. The short take-off, vertical landing capabilities of the F-35B are crucial to the mission of the Marine Corps and necessary for operation aboard a Navy amphibious ship
Marines and sailors aboard the USS Wasp (LHD-1) secure and refuel an F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter after its arrival for the first session of operational testing, May 18, 2015. Data and information gathered from OT-1 will lay the groundwork for F-35B deployments aboard Navy amphibious ships and the announcement of the Marine Corps' initial operating capacity of the F-35B in July.
An F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter after a vertical landing aboard the USS Wasp (LHD-1) during the opening day of the first session of operational testing, May 18, 2015
And these are production, operational aircraft, not prototypes or pure test aircraft.
Here are some of the initial pictures.
Four F-35B Lighting II Joint Strike Fighters sit secured to the deck after their arrival aboard the USS Wasp (LHD-1), May 18, 2015. Six aircraft are participating in full operational te4sting aboard the Wasp from May 18-June 1st.
Two F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters complete vertical landings aboard the USS Wasp (LHD-1) during the opening day of the first session of operational testing, May 18, 2015. Six aircraft are participating in full operational te4sting aboard the Wasp from May 18-June 1st.
An F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter idles on the flight deck of the USS Wasp (LHD-1) in preparation for take-off, May 18, 2015. The short take-off, vertical landing capabilities of the F-35B are crucial to the mission of the Marine Corps and necessary for operation aboard a Navy amphibious ship
Marines and sailors aboard the USS Wasp (LHD-1) secure and refuel an F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter after its arrival for the first session of operational testing, May 18, 2015. Data and information gathered from OT-1 will lay the groundwork for F-35B deployments aboard Navy amphibious ships and the announcement of the Marine Corps' initial operating capacity of the F-35B in July.
An F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter after a vertical landing aboard the USS Wasp (LHD-1) during the opening day of the first session of operational testing, May 18, 2015