Category: CNO Adm. Michael Gilday

VIDEO: U.S. Naval Academy 2023 Graduation

The following is the May 26, 2023, U.S. Naval Academy graduation ceremony and the text of the address by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Good morning, Class of 2023! I don’t think there’s anybody out there, Sean. Good morning, Class of 2023! Secretary Del Toro, Admiral Gilday, General Berger: thanks for your leadership of our […]

The following is the May 26, 2023, U.S. Naval Academy graduation ceremony and the text of the address by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

Good morning, Class of 2023!

I don’t think there’s anybody out there, Sean. Good morning, Class of 2023!

Secretary Del Toro, Admiral Gilday, General Berger: thanks for your leadership of our Navy and our Marine Corps.

And it’s great to see so many distinguished guests and local leaders, as well as members of Congress here today. Thanks for your support of this great Academy.

Vice Admiral Buck, family, friends, and above all graduates: I am absolutely delighted to join you on this proud day.

It is great to be here.

Even though the first guy I met said, “Beat Army!”

And it is indeed an honor to help welcome the next generation of Sailors and Marines to what is, beyond any doubt, the finest Navy that the world has ever known.

Now, you’re going to need to get used to some new titles.

So congratulations, Ensigns and Second Lieutenants! Huh!

You know, I really appreciate the warm welcome today, especially for an old West Point guy like me.

And as a former service-academy cadet, it’s a real pleasure to take care of this next piece of important business.

So in keeping with the longstanding tradition: To all midshipmen serving restrictions for minor infractions, you are hereby absolved.

You know, I’ve always wanted to do that.

You know, the U.S. Navy has been doing some pretty amazing things lately.

Pushing the limits with cutting-edge platforms. Schooling the next generation. And confronting new dangers.

And that was just the first half-hour of “Top Gun: Maverick.”

As I look around this stadium, I see some very proud families and loved ones out there.

You’ve been on this journey right alongside your midshipmen—from I-Day to plebe summer to signing those “two for seven” pledges. Your love and encouragement has given them the strength to keep going.

So graduates, today belongs to your loved ones too. And let’s give them a third round of applause.

Let me offer a special word of thanks to the sponsor families.

They open up their homes to exhausted mids—offering hot meals, and laundry, and a place to crash that isn’t “Mother B.”

So thanks to all of you for you have done and what you continue to do in support of these great men and women.

And Vice Adm. Buck has also got a graduation of sorts coming up.

Supe, you’ve led this brigade through incredibly challenging times. I want to thank you for your many years of service. And as your retirement beckons, we wish you fair winds and following seas.

Now, graduates: I know that you’re feeling some powerful emotions today.

Pride, gratitude, relief—and maybe a bit of shock.

And if you’re anything like my own academy class back in the day, you may be worrying about what’s next.

And you may wonder whether you’re truly prepared to lead.

Ensigns and Lieutenants, let me be clear: You are ready.

And that’s not just because you’ll have a commission the next time that you walk off the Yard.

It’s because of each and every time that you walked onto the Yard.

You chose to come to this Academy.

And despite challenges that nobody imagined, you chose to keep coming back, and to keep pushing, and to keep growing.

You know, all those choices add up to character.

And all those decisions add up to integrity.

And all those deeds add up to leadership.

And the way that you overcame obstacles at this Academy will show you how to conquer challenges outside of this Academy.

You led the brigade with grace and compassion after the Academy family tragically lost two midshipmen last year.

And I ask that we take a moment to remember Midshipman Taylor Connors and Midshipman Luke Bird.

Some of you have been hit with unexpected challenges.

Maya Weiss learned last year that she was facing a battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

But last November, she rang the bell at Walter Reed—done with chemo and cancer free.

And Maya, your classmates can’t wait for you to join them in the Fleet later this year.

This class has also led throughout a global pandemic.

COVID-19 disrupted your plebe year. It delayed rituals like climbing Herndon. It separated you from your classmates, as you were just starting to feel like a family.

But you hung in there. You took care of each other. You found ways to adapt, like firing up grills on the Yard for Thanksgiving dinner—or doing squats with jugs of water in your parents’ backyards when sea trials become “e-trials.”

And when it was finally safe to gather again, you reunited with your classmates. And you made good use of that weekday liberty at O’Brien’s.

Now, the Naval Academy’s new Midshipman Ethos records the core values that you’ve sworn to live by.

You seek wisdom. You practice discipline. You treat others with dignity and respect.

And you will defend our democracy with honor, courage, and commitment.

You know, those values aren’t just words that you recite. Those values are who you are.

And that’s how I know that you are ready for the challenges ahead.

As one of your predecessors once said, “We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles.”

That was President Jimmy Carter, Class of 1947.

And I’m proud that one of this school’s most distinguished alumni—a man of deep faith and a champion of human rights—is now honored on the Yard with the naming of Carter Hall.

Graduates, over the years, I’ve learned that leadership is not just what you do.

It’s who you are.

And over the years, I’ve had the privilege of working with some outstanding graduates of this academy.

People like Carlos Del Toro, who came to America, as you heard this morning, as a refugee from Cuba—and went on to command a destroyer and serve as your 78th Secretary of the Navy.

And his American journey reminds us how much is possible in this exceptional country.

I’m also thinking of Michelle Howard, the Navy’s first female four-star and the first African-American woman to command a combatant ship.

After she retired, Admiral Howard led the important commission to rename military assets after great American patriots who represent the very best of our history.

And her career is an inspiration to anyone facing a tough task.

“Some days,” she says, “you’ve just got to get your warrior on—and take that first step.”

I’m also thinking of my junior military assistant, Lieutenant Colonel Jay Armas, Class of 2001.

Now, this outstanding Marine is with me every day, morning until night.

And every morning, when Colonel Armas briefs me on my schedule, he realizes that all those “chow calls” were actually good for something.

And finally, I’m thinking of my former boss, Adm. Mike Mullen, who was the 17th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

He taught me some of the most important lessons of my career.

And the first one was: don’t ever work for a Naval Academy graduate when Navy Football is in the middle of a 14-year winning streak.

Adm. Mullen also taught me that a leader’s single most important job is to build and empower a great team. To encourage debate and diversity of views. And to take care of all of your people.

And if it hadn’t been for Adm. Mike Mullen, I probably wouldn’t be here with you today.

You know, naval officers have a special understanding of the power of teamwork.

To keep a ship afloat or a submarine diving, the crew has to work together as one team—from the captain to the cooks.

And that’s the spirit that makes American seapower so formidable.

And we need that spirit for the crucial mission that you’re all here to shoulder.

America’s seapower lets us sail, and fly, and operate alongside our unrivaled network of allies and partners, from the South China Sea, to the Gulf of Aden, to the Caribbean.

It lets us project power around the world.

And it helps us secure the sea lanes for the free movement of people, and goods, and ideas.

Today, our Marines are showing the power of teamwork as they train alongside our allies in Japan and the Philippines to strengthen deterrence in the Indo-Pacific.

Our Navy is driving forward our historic AUKUS partnership with Australia and the U.K., bringing together three great democracies to keep the Indo-Pacific free, and open, and prosperous.

In Europe, our Sailors are operating shoulder-to-shoulder with our NATO allies. And the Navy has helped expand Ukraine’s maritime capabilities as Ukraine fights against Russia’s cruel and reckless war of choice.

So around the world, the Navy and the Marine Corps bring relief to disaster zones, they counter piracy and drug trafficking, and they defend the freedom of the seas, skies, and space.

And that’s what American seapower lets us do.

Ensigns and Second Lieutenants: that is your mission.

And your leadership will be at the very heart of America’s work to forge a more open and more peaceful 21st century.

You know, our competitors openly challenge that vision. They want to replace the hard-won postwar system of rules and rights with a lawless world of autocracy and aggression.

But the American flag atop a U.S. Navy ship has long been the symbol of hope for a more free and secure world.

So graduates, you will deploy forward. You will travel the globe to defend our democracy. And you will learn that the lifeblood of the rules-based international order is actually seawater.

That’s a big job.

But you’re up to it.

You know, exactly 30 years ago today, the Class of 1983 [1993] heard from a wise and scrappy member of the Naval Academy’s Class of 1958.

Senator John McCain held true to his values under impossible circumstances.

And to the graduates sitting where you are, he said, “You have been taught much of what is necessary to lead other men and women in war and peace. You will learn much more from your approaching experiences. As Ensigns and Second Lieutenants, the character of the young Sailors and Marines entrusted to your care will be formed in large part by their appreciation of your character.”

And then Senator McCain added, “You are where leadership begins.”

Ladies and gentlemen, look around you.

This stadium reminds us of the great battles in which those who came before you fought to defend democracy. Belleau Wood. Guadalcanal. Iwo Jima. Inchon.

But what you don’t see here is all the battles that never occurred, all the wars that never erupted—because American Sailors and Marines showed up.

They deterred conflict. They kept the watch. And they reminded the world of what America stands for.

As President Theodore Roosevelt once said, “A good Navy is not a provocation to war. It is the surest guaranty of peace.”

Class of 2023: wherever your career takes you, remind the world of what you stand for—and what America stands for.

Honor. Courage. And commitment.

Democracy. Liberty. And the rule of law.

The lessons of this academy will always steer you true.

And when the fog rolls in, let the values that you have learned here be your lighthouse.

Because your commanders will call on you.

Your teammates will look to you.

And your country will count on you.

And I know that you are ready.

Because you are where leadership begins.

Class of 2023: I am absolutely honored to call you my teammates and shipmates.

And we will all be cheering you on as you make our country stronger, and our democracy deeper, and our world safer.

Congratulations.

May God bless you. May God bless your families. And may God continue to bless the United States of America.

Taiwan Legislative Leader Warns of Chinese Desire for Global Domination

The Chinese Communist Party wants to be a global hegemon and Taiwan is part of that journey, the president of the island’s legislature warned in a Tuesday address. “If we do not take the Chinese threat seriously, a dark future awaits all of mankind,” You Si-kun said at the Hudson Institute through a translator. He […]

A fighter jet attached to an aviation brigade of the PLA Air Force soars into the sky during a high-intensity flight training exercise in early Feb. 2023. PLA Photo

The Chinese Communist Party wants to be a global hegemon and Taiwan is part of that journey, the president of the island’s legislature warned in a Tuesday address.

“If we do not take the Chinese threat seriously, a dark future awaits all of mankind,” You Si-kun said at the Hudson Institute through a translator. He pointed to Beijing’s crack-down on democracy in Hong Kong and treatment of its Uighur minority population as examples from its recent domestic history.

The party is both communist and authoritarian with a fixed goal of making the “whole world subject to one rule.” He contrasted China’s aggressive actions toward its neighbors and in the region with democratic India’s generally supportive and non-bullying approach, noting both nation’s populations are similar.

“Taiwan has strong DNA in resisting external threats,” You said. Several times during the event, he referred to Taiwan’s resistance to the Japanese military takeover of the island that lasted more than five months in 1895.

Taiwan then had been ceded to the Japanese following Beijing’s defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War. “There was no government, no leader, no weapons, no other government’s support” for the Taiwanese in this conflict.

You cited the differences between Taiwan’s fight then and Ukraine’s now. After praising President Volodymyr Zelensky for asking the West for more weapons, not sanctuary, You added that “Ukraine has its own government … and troops” to fight back against the Russian invaders.

Even with the support of the United States now and others in the Indo-Pacific, “self-defense … is the best means of defense.”

You Si-kun

“Taiwan also has the Taiwan Strait as a natural deterrent” against an amphibious invasion of the self-governing island, he added.

You was encouraged by the improving relations between Japan and South Korea, as both recognize the threat to democracies that China poses. He praised Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos for strengthening its security alliance with the United States.

He thanked Washington for its strong support in the mid-1980s which led to Taiwan’s change from a dictatorship to a representative democracy. He also said Taiwan is appreciative of American and other nations’ support for re-instating it in United Nations activities like the World Health Organization. For years, China has been pressuring other nations to withdraw diplomatic relations with Taiwan and bar it from participating in U.N. organizations and panels.

He termed Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines, with American military support, “a defensive crescent” against Chinese ambitions in the so-called first island chain off its coast.

Because Ukraine has been “so difficult to conquer,” You said Chinese President Xi Jinping must be careful “so he will not become the second [Vladimir] Putin,”

Navy Finishes Seismic Repairs to Dry Dock 4 at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard

The Navy has finished seismic repairs to one of its Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility dry docks, the service announced late last week. Ohio-class ballistic missile nuclear submarine USS Pennsylvania (SSBN-735) is now in Dry Dock 4 for a refit after the dry dock received a new certification, according to a news […]

USS Pennsylvania (SSBN 735) is docked for its Extended Refit Period May 11 at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility. U.S. Navy Photo

The Navy has finished seismic repairs to one of its Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility dry docks, the service announced late last week.
Ohio-class ballistic missile nuclear submarine USS Pennsylvania (SSBN-735) is now in Dry Dock 4 for a refit after the dry dock received a new certification, according to a news release from the facility.

“Construction efforts include drilling holes for the installation of anchors inside the dry dock walls to enhance structural integrity and ensure the safety of the workforce, community, environment, and submarines,” the release reads. “The mitigation efforts updated existing emergency response plans to better address the chance of a catastrophic earthquake, along with improved early-warning employee notification systems in the dry docks.”

Following a seismic assessment, the Navy in January announced it would temporarily close three dry docks at Puget Sound in Bremerton, Wash., and the delta pier at the Trident Refit Facility in Bangor, Wash., for overhauls so the infrastructure could better sustain earthquake damage. The service subsequently issued a $76.35 million task order to Kiewit-Alberici SIOP MACC JV for the work in February.

“Mitigation work continues at Dry Dock 5 in Bremerton and the Trident Refit Facility Delta Pier in Bangor. Based on future planned improvements to Dry Dock 6 and differences in ship design and the size of aircraft carriers, it was determined immediate seismic mitigations are not required. Aircraft carrier maintenance at PSNS & IMF remains unaffected,” the release from Puget Sound reads.
“The need for mitigations in the remaining docks will be determined once current efforts are complete and may include stability enhancements for submarine availabilities.”

The dry docks and the Trident Refit Facility are near a major fault line that runs from Northern Vancouver Island to Cape Mendocino, Calif.

Navy officials in March told Congress that the dry docks should be ready for submarine maintenance by July, USNI News previously reported.

“We’re focused on those portions of the dock that are closest to the nuclear power plant in the submarines,” Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday told the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee at the time.
“That’s the most substantial work that we’re doing, essentially repairing both sides of the entire dry dock.”

Navy Exporting Middle East Unmanned Template to SOUTHCOM to Curb Illegal Fishing, Battle Drug War

The U.S. Navy will expand its unmanned systems experimentation testbed to U.S. 4th Fleet to counter both drug trafficking and China’s illegal fishing, service officials announced Tuesday. The service plans to export its unmanned platforms and artificial intelligence testing in U.S. 5th Fleet under the Task Force 59 template to U.S. Southern Command as part […]

Two Saildrone Explorer unmanned surface vessels and the guided-missile destroyer USS Delbert D. Black (DDG 119) operate in the Arabian Gulf, Jan. 8. US Navy Photo

The U.S. Navy will expand its unmanned systems experimentation testbed to U.S. 4th Fleet to counter both drug trafficking and China’s illegal fishing, service officials announced Tuesday.

The service plans to export its unmanned platforms and artificial intelligence testing in U.S. 5th Fleet under the Task Force 59 template to U.S. Southern Command as part of the interagency effort against transnational criminal organizations and illegal fishing. While the plans for exactly how many and what type of systems are still in flux, the Navy will kick off the experimentation in July with the annual UNITAS exercise.

Operating the systems in 4th Fleet will help the military “address several significant challenges,” Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said at the Navy’ss Leagues Sea Air Space symposium.

“These include narcotics and human trafficking, as well as economic and ecological harm caused by illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, which the People’s Republic of China – with their distant water fishing fleets – participates in both the Pacific coasts and the Atlantic coasts of Central and South America,” Del Toro said.

“The sustained presence of these unmanned platforms provides us with the endurance and reach necessary to compliment the activities of our manned platforms, freeing then up for other missions.”

While the unmanned experimentation will help the Navy pursue the hybrid fleet of the future and take lessons for future operations in other regions, Del Toro said it will also help the U.S. work with allies in SOUTHCOM as it integrates other nations into the experimentation, as the Navy has done in 5th Fleet.

“Bringing these platforms and technologies to 4th Fleet sends a strong signal to our Caribbean, our Latin and South American partners that we are committed to their national and economic security and that we are investing resources and to addressing the challenges we all face in the region together,” he said.

How far south the experimentation will go is still under consideration, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday said on stage alongside Del Toro at the same conference.

“We think that unmanned takes it to another level, in terms of that [area of responsibility], and our being able to keep more of an unblinking eye on that traffic up coming north,” Gilday said. “Also with respect to illegal and unregulated fishing … there’s no better way to compete with the PRC in grey zone activities than to expose them.”

Since it kicked off the Task Force 59 experimentation in 5th Fleet nearly two years ago Navy officials have touted the work as a success that has allowed the service to quickly use new technology in daily operations. Gilday said Task Force 59 has successfully overcome the so-called “valley of death” scenario that typically plagues new technology in the acquisition process.

The experimentation in the Middle East has focused mostly on smaller, commercial unmanned platforms that are contractor-operated, but the Navy owns the data.

In 4th Fleet, the Navy will not stand up a separate task force, but instead will incorporate the testbed into the numbered fleet’s command and staff, Gilday told reporters Tuesday.

“So intelligence, operations, plans, manpower – so it’ll all be integrated in. So we wanted to take a different approach rather than a task force this time because … we’re integrating additional sensors into the battle space and we think this is another way to normalize it,” he said.

The current plans for 4th Fleet are focused on unmanned air and surface platforms, but undersea platforms could come next.

“We have six different unmanned platforms, undersea platforms. So some of those are torpedo-launched. There were three that do mine counter-measures. There are two more that do seabed exploration. And so there’s another one that has a [anti-submarine warfare] capability. And as I mentioned, some of those are sub-launched capabilities,” Gilday said.

“The other thing that we’ve been talking about with the Secretary is we do have some experimenting with motherships as well. And so there’s a lot to learn here. We have a lot of opportunities here in terms of unmanned. we’re not trying to self-limit,” the CNO added.

U.S. Southern Command has for years operated as a technological test bed for the Navy, particularly when it comes to unmanned aviation assets like the MQ-8 Fire Scout and the RQ-4 Global Hawk.

CNO Wants to Pursue Multi-Year Buy for Stalled Amphibious Ship Program

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – The Chief of Naval Operations wants the Navy to pursue a multi-year procurement strategy for the amphibious warship program the service indicated it would end in the latest budget submission. “Most recently, on Friday, we put LPD-32 on contract at a good price and we hope to leverage the multi-year authorities […]

Amphibious warship Richard M. McCool, Jr., (LPD-29) on Aug. 4, 2022. USNI News Photo

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – The Chief of Naval Operations wants the Navy to pursue a multi-year procurement strategy for the amphibious warship program the service indicated it would end in the latest budget submission.

“Most recently, on Friday, we put LPD-32 on contract at a good price and we hope to leverage the multi-year authorities that we have to keep that great line of ships going,” Adm. Mike Gilday said Monday at the annual Navy League’s Sea Air Space symposium.

Gilday was referring to a $1.295 billion contract modification issued Friday to HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding for the detail design and construction of LPD-32, the last ship in the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock line under the Navy’s current budget plans.

The CNO’s comments come as Pentagon officials publicly debate the future of the LPD-17 Flight II line, which the Navy has sought to end in its last two budget proposals. The recent Fiscal Year 2024 five-year budget outlook does not show the Navy buying any LPDs.

Navy officials, including Gilday, have voiced concern over the cost of the line and argued the service paused plans to buy more of the amphibious ships so it can study both cost and capabilities.

“Congress has given us the authorities in the latest [National Defense Authorization Act] to do a bundle buy and we all agree that that’s the way that we ought to go after these ships. But to go after a single ship in ‘25, and put that in the budget now – based on where we are with all this churn on cost and so forth and this concern about the cost of those ships – it’s like telling a car dealer, ‘Hey I really want to buy that minivan. I’m going to buy that minivan. Now let’s roll up our sleeves and talk about price,’” Gilday said of the line last month.

During Monday’s conference, Gilday cited the 2022 National Defense Strategy when asked why he thinks the composition of the fleet may change in his next force structure assessment.

“We have a new defense strategy in 2022 and we have new force size and constructs that are classified that actually shape the force of the future. And we see those guidelines come alive in defense planning scenarios that are really foundational to the analysis that we do. And so there are known unknowns there with respect to the analysis we’re going into,” Gilday said.

“The reason I said I can’t see it going below 373 is because just from what I see on a day-to-day basis with respect to demand, the war games that I participate in, and what I believe to be the importance of the naval force in a maritime fight,” he added.

The CNO was referring to his appearance last week before the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, which asked about the upcoming force structure assessment. Gilday told lawmakers he would send them the new assessment by June 10.

“With respect to not only the size, but the composition of the fleet, I would expect that to change from the last report, particularly in terms of composition,” Gilday told Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). “It’s too early to tell with respect to size, but quite honestly ma’am I can’t see it getting any smaller than 373 manned ships.”

The classified plan delivered to lawmakers last year called for a fleet of 373 manned ships and about 150 unmanned surface and underwater vehicles.

Navy Awards $1.3B to Ingalls Shipbuilding for LPD-32 Amphibious Warship

The Navy has issued a $1.295 billion contract modification to HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding for the detail design and construction of LPD-32, the last San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock under the service’s current budget plans. The contract, announced Friday, follows a $240 million advanced procurement award issued to Ingalls last June for long-lead items. “This program […]

Fort Lauderdale (LPD-28) launched in March 2021. HII Photo

The Navy has issued a $1.295 billion contract modification to HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding for the detail design and construction of LPD-32, the last San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock under the service’s current budget plans.

The contract, announced Friday, follows a $240 million advanced procurement award issued to Ingalls last June for long-lead items.

“This program is strong and has enabled the Department of Navy and Ingalls to establish a formidable capability based on a mature design, an ever-increasingly efficient production line, and a team of shipbuilders that keep the Navy’s critical industrial base network across the country strong,” Ingalls president Kari Wilkinson said in a statement.

The contract modification comes as the Navy conducts a “strategic pause” on buying more amphibious ships so it can look for ways to save money on the LPD-17 Flight II line. The Office of the Secretary of Defense directed the pause.

“This program is strong and has enabled the Department of Navy and Ingalls to establish a formidable capability based on a mature design, an ever-increasingly efficient production line, and a team of shipbuilders that keep the Navy’s critical industrial base network across the country strong.”

Last year, the Navy in its Fiscal Year 2023 budget proposal announced it would end the LPD-17 Flight II line after purchasing LPD-32. But the Marine Corps quickly placed LPD-33 at the top of its unfunded priorities, winning support from lawmakers, who appropriated and authorized advanced procurement funding for LPD-33 in the FY 2023 spending and policy bills.

Despite Congressional action, the Navy in its FY 2024 proposal released earlier this month did not show the service purchasing any more LPDs in the five-year budget outlook.

During testimony this week, the Navy’s acting acquisition chief argued the service has time to reassess costs for LPDs because it would buy the next ship in FY 2025, adhering to recommendations from industry that the Navy purchase them every two years to maintain the workforce and supply chain.

“There is a period where we can look at a more affordable way potentially to build those. We don’t need to build one in ’24. We can take some time to see if there’s a more affordable way to build those before we buy the ’25 ship, sir,” told Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) during a Senate Armed Services seapower subcommittee hearing this week.

But the current five-year outlook does not show the Navy buying any amphibs in FY 2025. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger has said the Navy already achieved as much cost savings as possible when it chose to pursue the slimmed-down LPD-17 Flight II design over a new amphibious ship.

AUKUS Agreement Will Help Deter China from Taiwan Invasion, Says Former PACOM CO

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The technology sharing agreement meant to help Australia build its own nuclear-powered submarines will help deter China from invading Taiwan, the former head of U.S. Pacific Command said today. “This will serve certainly as a deterrent in the mindset of the Chinese military when they consider things like acting against their neighbors, […]

President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Rishi Surnak and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speak at the AUKUS bilateral meeting in San Diego, Calif, March 13, 2023. DoD Photo

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The technology sharing agreement meant to help Australia build its own nuclear-powered submarines will help deter China from invading Taiwan, the former head of U.S. Pacific Command said today.

“This will serve certainly as a deterrent in the mindset of the Chinese military when they consider things like acting against their neighbors, acting on the global stage in negative and nefarious ways,” retired Adm. Harry Harris said today at an event co-hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the U.S. Naval Institute.

“I now agree completely with Sidharth Kaushal, who’s with the U.K.’s RUSI – the Royal United Services Institute – when he said this will make China’s potential aggression against Taiwan a lot less appealing. That’s his words – a lot less appealing. I agree with him,” Harris added.

Harris, who lead U.S. Pacific Commander before it became U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, said he doesn’t think selling Virginia-class submarines to Australia will hurt U.S. defense capabilities.

“It’s not a zero-sum game. We’re not going to sell a submarine to Australia and then have some deficit in the global submarine force. Australia is a key American ally,” Harris said.

“So an Australian Virginia- class submarine under sovereign Australian colors is a good thing. It’s good for the free and open Indo-Pacific. It’s good for the reach that Australia will have globally with a submarine of that capacity,” he added.

President Joe Biden, along with his counterparts from Australia and the United Kingdom, earlier this month unveiled how the three nations will pursue the agreement known as AUKUS. The technology-sharing pact will help Australia develop its own nuclear-powered submarine capability that it can eventually build and maintain domestically.

The multi-phase deal would have Royal Australian Navy sailors continue training already underway with U.S. sailors and start training with U.K. sailors. Australia, the U.K. and the U.S. would also pursue a submarine rotational force out of Australia that could operate as soon as 2027.

The RAN could buy up to five Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack boats in the 2030s before Australia’s domestic capability can build and maintain its own submarines. Those boats would likely be a mix of old and new attack boats. Eventually, the U.K. would build the first submarines for Australia, a platform known as SSN AUKUS that’s based on the U.K.’s SSNR design, for a late 2030s delivery. Once Australia builds out its own workforce, it could start the domestic construction of the first boats in the 2040s.

Harris said training the industrial base how to build and maintain nuclear-powered submarines is crucial. But the deal’s success also depends on the industrial bases in both the U.K. and the U.S. While the U.S. Navy is buying Virginia-class submarines at a two-per-year cadence, industry is currently building about 1.2 submarines per year. In order to sell to the Australians, the U.S. industrial base needs to build more than two submarines per year, according to Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday.

To help bolster industry, the Navy in its Fiscal Year 2024 budget request is looking to infuse the submarine industrial base with cash.

“That won’t just go to the two big shipbuilders, which are HII Newport News and Electric Boat up in Groton, but those other companies that I talked about that we’re doing the strategic outsourcing with, they need to get some of that money,” Gilday said at the McAleese Conference earlier this month. “They need to make the investments in their infrastructure and their workforce so that we can sustain that 2.0 cadence, which by the way needs to go above 2.0 attack boats per year if we’re going to be in a position to sell any to the Australians.”

For the Navy to sell Australia Virginia-class boats, in addition to building two boats per year the service also needs to work on the spare parts inventory for the class, Naval Sea Systems Command chief Vice Adm. Bill Galinis told reporters earlier this month.

“We’ve made some tremendous progress over the last year or so in kind of replenishing some of the parts that we have. There’s clearly more to do in that area,” Galinis said.

The Navy’s FY 2024 request seeks $541 million for Virginia-class spare across the five-year budget outlook. But Galinis said the Navy also needs to evaluate its long-term maintenance plans for the Virginia boats to ensure the U.S. can sell some of them to the Australians.

“We put them into shipyards – the Virginians – for an extended period of time. And just historically – and whether you’re talking Virginia or any other ship class – the longer you keep a ship in the shipyard, the more difficult it is to execute and finish that availability on time. And as the size and the duration of the avails grow, it gets more difficult,” Galinis said.

Harris during Thursday’s event said the success of AUKUS also means decades-long political and financial support for the endeavor.

“You have to have sustained political support in three countries for three decades, at least. You have to have sustained resourcing by those same three countries for three decades. And you have to be maximally flexible across three decades,” he said.
“Some people would say that those are three impossibles that have to come together to pull this off. I don’t agree with that. I think it is entirely possible because … the criticality of the need for Australia to have this capability against the threats that we all face in a region as vitally important as the Indo-Pacific demands something big bold and creative.”

CMC Berger to Senate: ‘There’s No Plan’ to Meet Amphib Warship Requirements

The Marine Corps’ top officer told a Senate panel that he put a $1.75 billion warship on the top of his unfunded priorities list to show there’s no path to expand the U.S. amphibious ship inventory. Speaking before the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee on Tuesday, Commandant Gen. David Berger said he saw a net reduction […]

Amphibious warship Richard M. McCool, Jr., (LPD-29) on Aug. 4, 2022. USNI News Photo

The Marine Corps’ top officer told a Senate panel that he put a $1.75 billion warship on the top of his unfunded priorities list to show there’s no path to expand the U.S. amphibious ship inventory.

Speaking before the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee on Tuesday, Commandant Gen. David Berger said he saw a net reduction in the amphibious ship force because of the retirement of three older landing ship docks (LSDs) with no planned replacement with new shipbuilding. This prompted his decision to include funding for a San Antonio-class (LPD-17) amphib on his unfunded priorities list.

“This budget proposes early decommissioning of three of those LSDs with no construction or acquisition of an LPD. For my role as defining what the requirements are – the statutory minimum of 31 – there’s no plan to get there. From my perspective, I didn’t see any other way than to put it on the unfunded list in order to reflect that. There’s no plan to get to the minimum requirements,” he said in response to questions from Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.).

Berger warned that without adequate amphibious shipping to support humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts, the U.S. runs the risk of China filling in with its own assets.

“When we can’t respond when we have to, then our allies’ and partners’ trust goes down. In all likelihood, the way the Chinese Navy is growing and they’re expanding, they’re liable to try to step in and we can’t afford that to happen,” he said.

Berger’s comments come as the Department of the Navy and Pentagon continue to struggle over how they will develop a future amphibious force. While Berger and other Navy leaders have acknowledged a requirement for 31 amphibious ships to meet the Marines’ latest island-hopping concept, the Navy zeroed out the budget line for new amphibious ships over the next five years, as the service takes a “strategic pause” on buying new gators while it takes on new studies mandated by the Pentagon, USNI News previously reported.

As part of the budget rollout earlier this month, Pentagon budget officials called the current amphibious ship inventory in the near-term “sufficient.”

Meanwhile, the Navy is working on the latest fleet assessment it plans to deliver to Congress – the Battle Force Ship Assessment and Requirement (BFSAR) – in late spring.

“I’ve committed to Congress to deliver that report by the 10th of June this year, and I will make that deadline. We are on track with our analysis team to do that,” Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday told the panel.

The new BFSAR is a follow-up on the assessment Congress ordered last year that put the goal of 373 ships to support the roles and missions required of the Navy in the long term. The details of the last year’s assessment were classified, but shortly after its delivery to Congress, Gilday issued a public plan for the Navy’s Force Design 2045.

The notional 2045 Navy calls for:

  • 12 Columbia-class ballistic missile nuclear submarines
  • 12 Aircraft carriers
  • 66 Submarines, split between fast attack and large diameter payload boats
  • 96 Large surface combatants like the Arleigh Burke class destroyer and the emerging DDG(X) next-generation destroyer
  • 56 Constellation-class guided-missile frigates
  • 31 Large amphibious ships
  • 18 Light amphibious warships to support Marine Littoral Regiments
  • 82 Combat logistics ships and auxiliaries
  • 150 large surface and subsurface unmanned vessels that will act as sensors and auxiliary magazines to the manned fleet

He told the panel that he expected the underlying details of the plan to change with the new assessment.

“With respect to, not only the size, but the composition of the fleet, I would expect that to change from the last report, particularly in terms of composition. It’s too early to tell with respect to size, but quite honestly, I can’t see it getting any smaller than 373 manned ships,” Gilday said.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) raised questions about how the service would meet its long-term shipbuilding goals when the current budget outlook results in a net negative of five battle force ships from now through Fiscal Year 2028. Under its latest long-range shipbuilding plan, the service would need to craft a budget at about 5 percent above the rate of inflation to hit its 373 goal, Gilday told Graham.

“If we’re at 296 [battle force ships] today and under this budget, we’re going to be at 291 in [Fiscal Year] 28. How do we get to 373?” Graham asked.
“The budget you’re supporting [today] is below inflation. And you’re telling us to get to where we want to go, we’ve got to be above inflation by 5 percent. If this is a good budget, I would hate to see a bad budget.”

Graham asked Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro if the bottleneck was due to funding or shipbuilding capacity

“Do we have a shipbuilding industry problem, or do we have a budget problem?” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) asked Del Toro.

“We have a shipbuilding industry problem, currently Senator,” Del Toro said.

Project Overmatch Targeting R&D Tops Navy’s Fiscal Year 2024 Wishlist, $550M for Facility Overhauls

This post has been updated with additional details from the unfunded priorities list. If the Navy could ask for more funds in Fiscal Year 2024, it would prioritize infrastructure to target potential adversaries in support of its Project Overmatch initiative, USNI News has learned. The service’s FY 2024 $2 billion annual unfunded priorities list, obtained […]

Operations Specialist 3rd Class Zachary Ezekiel, assigned to the guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey (CG 61), identifies air contacts in the combat information center (CIC) on March 21, 2016. Monterey is underway conducting Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMPTUEX) with the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group in preparation for a future deployment. US Navy photo.

This post has been updated with additional details from the unfunded priorities list.

If the Navy could ask for more funds in Fiscal Year 2024, it would prioritize infrastructure to target potential adversaries in support of its Project Overmatch initiative, USNI News has learned.

The service’s FY 2024 $2 billion annual unfunded priorities list, obtained by USNI News on Friday, puts $45.3 million in research and development funds to pursue the Maritime Targeting Cell Afloat (MTC-A) as its number one priority.

“Funding the Maritime Targeting Cell Afloat (MTC-A) delivers persistent, multi-domain fusion of national, theater, and tactical sensors and space layer downlink at shore-based and tactical afloat nodes in a contested communications environment. Directly supports Project Overmatch and Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) by integrating intelligence, sensors, shooters, platforms, and weapons to enhance lethality and survivability, which is a strategic objective of the CNO’s Navigation Plan (NAVPLAN),” the document reads.

As its number two priority, the annual wishlist to Congress includes $49.3 million in research and development funding to update the cockpit systems in the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye through the E-2D Hawkeye Cockpit Technical Refresh (HECTR) program.

“The enclosed Navy Unfunded Priorities List (UPL) identifies executable ways to enhance the President’s Budget with additional investments in FY 2024. The list includes investments in the Navy’s networks to enhance lethality and survivability, improvements in electronic detection and targeting, urgent seismic dry dock projects and modernization of critical infrastructure, and additional aviation and maritime spares to improve Fleet readiness and buy down future risk,” Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday wrote in a letter to the Congressional defense authorization committees.

“Also, the UPL includes a detailed list of executable military construction projects. Funding for these projects would construct laboratories to test and evaluate new capabilities to reduce Fleet vulnerabilities, address installation resiliency issues, and improve shore infrastructure.”

The third priority for the Navy is $186.4 million in research and development funding and other procurement funding for the Zumwalt Enterprise Upgrade Solution, known as ZEUS. The initiative is meant to upgrade the Zumwalt-class guided-missile destroyers with a new electronic weapons suite, radar and anti-submarine warfare capabilities, USNI News previously reported.

By far the most expensive line item is $550 million in shore infrastructure improvements across the Navy.

The second most expensive item is $300 million in operations and maintenance funding to fix three dry docks at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Facility in Bremerton, Wash., and the delta pier at the Trident Refit Facility in Bangor, Wash. A funding table accompanying the unfunded priorities shows a list of projects the Navy postponed to immediately start overhauling the dry docks, which are at risk for earthquake damage.
“Recently, the PSNS dry docks were decertified due to risk of dry docks stability during a seismic event. Recertifying the dry docks is imperative to continue to maintain submarines,” according to the unfunded list.

The fourth priority for the Navy is a capability called Violet, which the service declined to explain due to classification. The Navy wants $25.6 million across its research and development account, other procurement funding, and operations and maintenance account for the initiative.

With more funding, the Navy would also perform Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program (SEWIP) Block III upgrades to future Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers Richard G. Lugar (DDG-136) and John F. Lehman (DDG-137). The upgrades would cost $208.1 million from the Navy’s shipbuilding account.

Another unfunded priority is to perform SEWIP Block III upgrades on Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) and future Ford-class carrier Enterprise (CVN-80), which is under construction at HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding. Those upgrades would cost $264 million, also from the Navy shipbuilding account.

The Navy also wants another KC-130J aircraft for $118.8 million and aircraft spare parts for $175 million. Both of those line items are aircraft procurement funding.

“This funds Aviation Consolidated Allowance List (AVCAL) outfitting, improving material range and depth for the F/A-18E/F, EA-18G, E-2, MH-60R, MH-60S, CMV-22, and MQ-4C series aircraft,” the UPL says of the spare parts. “This will close gaps in Carrier Air Wing material support posture by resourcing spare and repair parts from industrial base supply chains for point-of-use during Fleet training and deployment cycles.”

The service’s wish list also includes $100 million in other procurement funding for maritime spare parts.

$3.6B Marine Corps Wish List Again Asks for Stalled Amphibious Warship

For the second year in a row, the Marine Corps is asking Congress for an amphibious warship the Navy doesn’t plan to buy. At the top of the Marines’ Fiscal Year 2024 unfunded priorities list is $1.7 billion for LPD-33, a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock that the Navy did not include in its five-year […]

Shipbuilder welding on the bow section of a future San Antonio-class amphibious warship at Ingalls Shipbuilding on Aug. 4, 2022. USNI News Photo

For the second year in a row, the Marine Corps is asking Congress for an amphibious warship the Navy doesn’t plan to buy.

At the top of the Marines’ Fiscal Year 2024 unfunded priorities list is $1.7 billion for LPD-33, a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock that the Navy did not include in its five-year budget outlook released last week. While the amphibious warship is the top priority for the Marine Corps, the funding comes out of the Navy’s shipbuilding account.

The $3.6 billion wish list from the Marine Corps also asks for $1.085 billion for its Force Design 2030 initiative – which includes $93 million for “initial and outfitting spares” for the Marines’ CH-53K King Stallion heavy lift helicopter, $253 million for two more KC-130J aircraft and spares and $36.4 million for one KC-130J Weapon Systems Trainer and spares. All of that money would come out of the Navy’s aircraft procurement account. The wish list also asks for $122.4 million in aircraft procurement funding for four more engines and lift systems for the F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, plus spare parts.

Also under the Force Design section of the wish list is $160 million for four AN/TPS-80 G/ATOR Radar systems, $206.3 million for Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTV) and trailer and $5.1 million for Joint All Domain Command and Control. The funding for those items would come out of the Marine Corps’ procurement account.

The wish list also asks for $116.8 million for other modernization efforts, including $67.5 million for three UC-12W Beechcraft King Air 350ER with spare parts and the cargo door. The rest of the list is seeking $757.6 million for military construction items, which includes $227.4 million to update Marine Corps Base Hawaii’s water reclamation facility and $145 million for Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point’s low altitude air defense maintenance and operations facilities.

The Marine Corps’ unfunded priorities list and the Navy’s budget forecast show a continued divide in the Pentagon over the future procurement of amphibious ships. Last year, the Marine Corps put $250 million in advanced procurement funding for LPD-33 at the top of its wish list. This followed the Navy’s announcement in the FY 2023 budget rollout that it would end LPD-17 Flight II procurement after buying LPD-32.

Congress ultimately supported the Marine Corps, including the $250 million in advanced procurement for LPD-33 in the FY 2023 spending and policy bills. Despite receiving the advanced procurement funding from lawmakers, the Navy again zeroed out funding for LPD-33 and the LPD-17 Flight II line in its FY 2024 Future Years Defense Program.

Navy officials say the halt to the LPD-17 Flight II line is so the service can perform studies to assess both the capabilities and numbers of amphibious ships the service needs and to evaluate cost savings.

Last week, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday and Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger spoke at the same Washington, D.C., conference where they presented two different views of costs associated with buying the LPDs.

“Congress has given us the authorities in the latest [National Defense Authorization Act] to do a bundle buy and we all agree that that’s the way that we ought to go after these ships. But to go after a single ship in ‘25, and put that in the budget now – based on where we are with all this churn on cost and so forth and this concern about the cost of those ships – it’s like telling a car dealer, ‘hey I really want to buy that minivan. I’m going to buy that minivan. Now let’s roll up our sleeves and talk about price,’” Gilday said.

“It’s not going to drive down the price of that ship. It needs to be competitive. Actually, with that production line and that ship, it’s not competitive. One company builds it,” he added.

But Berger cited inflation as the reason why the LPDs have become more expensive and argued the Navy likely won’t find more cost savings because in 2014 it chose to to pursue the Flight II line over a new design to save money.

“For a year and a half, little by little, [we looked at] what could be pulled out of there but still do what we needed to do,” Berger said of the 2014 evaluation.
“So from my perspective, that thoroughness that I saw and all of the staff meetings and all that took us to the final Navy decision to go with the Flight II – all that made perfect sense. And there was a lot of head butting on every little detail. So I don’t know doing that again with the same ship – I don’t know what you find out that we don’t already know.”