Navy fully funds maintenance, puts shipbuilding on backburner

摘要

The Navy seeks to fully fund aviation and ship operations and maintenance, but put President Trump's campaign promise to grow the fleet on the backburner in its fiscal year 2018 budget request. Navy officials have recently raised the alarm about the problems that would be created if operations and maintenance accounts are not adequately funded. Adm. Bill Moran, the vice chief of naval operations, during a February Senate Armed Services readiness subcommittee hearing warned that a funding shortage could force the Navy to shut down two air wings and defer 14 ship maintenance availabilities. At a March House Armed Services Committee readiness hearing, Vice Adm. Joseph Mulloy, deputy chief of naval operations for integration of capabilities and resources, warned the situations cited by Moran are "the minimum" that would occur if the Navy does not get additional readiness dollars. "When you get to fiscal year '18, the ships and squadrons not working up or being maintained now, they would not deploy in ' 18," Moran said. "You'd start seeing the same carrier gaps, you'd start seeing other impacts around the world." The Navy's FY-18 budget request does not include the future years defense plan. A Navy official said the service is waiting for Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to complete the National Defense Strategy.