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Navy Releases Summary FY24 Budget Request
On Monday, the Department of Defense, including the Department of the Navy, released summary requests of the fiscal year 2024 budget. The overall request for the Navy is $255.8 billion - $53.2 billion for the Marine Corps and $202.5 billion for the Navy. The total DON request is a 4.5% increase over what Congress appropriated last year, according to the service’s budget presentation.
The request asks Congress to purchase one Columbia-class ballistic-missile submarine, two Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, two Virginia-class attack boats, two Constellation-class frigates, one John Lewis-class fleet oiler and one next-generation submarine tender replacement known as AS(X) for a total of $32.8 billion in the Navy’s shipbuilding account. The service sped up the first AS(X) procurement to FY 2024 from a previously planned start of FY 2025.
In addition to the battle force ship request, the Navy wants funding for one Landing Craft, Air Cushion Service Life Extension Program, two Landing Craft Utility 1700s, and two used sealift ships.
The Future Years Defense Program (FYDP), or the Pentagon’s five-year budget outlook, shows the Navy buying two Flight III destroyers and two Virginia-class attack boats a year through FY 2028. It also shows the Navy buying one Columbia-class ballistic-missile submarine per year from FY 2026 through FY 2028, one Ford-class aircraft carrier in FY 2028, and the next America-class amphibious assault ship in FY 2027. The Navy previously planned to buy that ship – LHA-10 – in FY 2031. For the Constellation-class frigate, the Navy plans to buy one in FY 2025, two in FY 2026, one in FY 2027 and two in FY 2028.
The Navy is also seeking $1.8 billion in incremental funding for LHA-9, which the service bought in FY 2021, and $1.9 billion for the two Ford-class aircraft carriers it previously purchased in a block buy.
The five-year outlook shows the service starting the Landing Ship Medium program – previously known as the Light Amphibious Warship – in FY 2025 by purchasing one ship, one in FY 2026, two in FY 2027, and two in FY 2028. The ship is meant to have a beaching capability so it can shuttle small units of Marines between islands and shorelines in the Pacific.
The request seeks to decommission eight ships in FY 2024 before they reach their expected service lives: three Whidbey Island-class dock landing ships, three Ticonderoga-class cruisers, and two Independence-class Littoral Combat Ships. Of those eight ships, the Navy sought to decommission four of them last year: cruiser USS Vicksburg (CG-69) and dock landing ships USS Germantown (LSD-42), USS Gunston Hall (LSD-44) and USS Tortuga (LSD-46). Congress prohibited the Navy from retiring those hulls in FY 2023. The Navy also wants to decommission cruisers USS Antietam (CG-54) and USS Leyte Gulf (CG-55), and Los Angeles-class submarine USS San Juan (SSN-751), all of which are past their expected service lives.
The service performed a “ship-by-ship review” to consider the decommissionings for both the LSDs and other ship classes, Navy Under Secretary Erik Raven told reporters last week.
An SCA Summary of the request will be available following the release of the detailed budget line items – expected early next week.
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Navy Again Plans to Offer 3 Shipbuilding Paths
This week, in remarks before the McAleese Defense Programs conference, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro suggested that the Navy’s annual 30-year shipbuilding plan would again provide three pathways for future shipbuilding.
“Unless things change dramatically, I think it will… have three options in there and I think that’s a good strategy,” SECNAV said Wednesday, “It provides options for future leaders to be able to make decisions based on the current threat of the day.”
The FY 23 plan broke precedent by providing Congress with three potential pathways for future shipbuilding. Two options assumed little to no increase in overall defense spending and suggested around 300 ships by fiscal 2035, while the third planned on the Navy getting a significantly larger topline and targeting 326 ships by FY35. No official choice was made, but the eventual funding suggested lawmakers were more in line with the third option. Still, the choice itself irked some lawmakers who saw the move as indecision on the part of the Navy.
The Navy’s new fiscal 2024 shipbuilding plan has not yet been released, although senior leadership in charge of crafting the budget said it would be delivered to the Hill in the coming weeks. When asked whether the new plan would continue the “three choices” route, Del Toro said it would and argued that the plan still provides industry with stability in the near term.
The purpose of the long-range shipbuilding plan, which despite being statutorily required the Navy has a spotty record of delivering annually, is to give Congress and industry a clear road map of its plans for building warships, a process that takes years of advanced preparations.
Del Toro has also said that this year he intends to deliver a 30-year long-term infrastructure plan in an effort get a bird’s eye view of the service’s aging dry docks and bases.
Coast Guard Seeks $1.19 Billion in Vessels for FY24
On March 13, 2023, the Coast Guard released its detailed fiscal year 2024 budget request. Overall, the request would seek $1.19 billion in new vessels, $273 million more than the FY23 enacted level. According to the budget documents, the FY 2024 Budget continues efforts for the Coast Guard’s two highest acquisition priorities, the Offshore Patrol Cutter and the Polar Security Cutter. The FY 2024 Budget also advances the Great Lakes Icebreaker acquisition – an asset that will ensure America’s continued economic prosperity on our domestic waterways. Additionally, the FY 2024 Budget provides funding for the purchase of a commercially available polar icebreaker, which is critical to increasing presence in the Arctic.
An SCA Summary of the Coast Guard's Request can be found HERE. Original documents from the Coast Guard can be found HERE.
MARAD Seeks $984M in FY24
The Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Budget Request includes $980.2 million for the Maritime Administration (MARAD) to strengthen the United States’ maritime transportation system. MARAD programs support U.S. shipyards, ports, waterways, ships and shipping, vessel operations, strategic mobility for National security, ship disposal, and maritime education and training. In addition, MARAD partners with the Department of Defense (DoD) to maintain the National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) of vessels to provide sealift to transport military equipment and supplies during war and National emergencies. DoD provides funding for NDRF through reimbursable agreement.
An SCA Summary of the MARAD request is HERE. Original documents from MARAD can be found HERE.
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