WASHINGTON, D.C. – On April 19, Congressman Rob Wittman (VA-01), Vice Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, released the following statement in response to the Navy’s recently released 30-year shipbuilding plan:
“With this 30-year shipbuilding plan, the Navy demonstrates that it has lost its way. It trades decisive and bold decision-making for endless studies, vast short-term risk, and fails to reckon with the threats we face. The future of our nation’s fleet is not a multiple-choice test in which the Navy can choose ‘all of the above.’ At no point do any of the three plans deliver a path to generating 31 traditional L-class amphibs, as required by law. Our destroyers and frigates are short-changed. Two of the proposed plans would shrink the amphibious fleet in total to just 26 ships by FY35. Within the Davidson window—the period between now and 2027 where we anticipate the greatest risk of Beijing moving to forcibly reunify with Taiwan – each of the plans results in our attack submarine fleet contracting to 48 subs by FY26 and only one of the provided alternatives reaches the requirement of 66 submarines FY49. Additionally, our undersea vertical launch system capacity, surface VLS capacity, and torpedo capacity are all set to decline between now and 2030. This is unacceptable.”
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