Advertisement

The Pentagon Wants to Supersize the Navy to 500+ Ships. Good Luck Paying for That.

From Popular Mechanics


The U.S. Navy could grow to a fleet of more than 500 ships, an increase of more than 50 percent over the fleet’s current battle force. The Pentagon is facing mounting pressure to boost the number of U.S. warships as a counter to China’s rapid naval buildup.

🚢 You love badass ships. So do we. Let's nerd out over them together.

Four studies suggest the key to growth lies in small, lightly manned or unmanned warships, which are inexpensive to build and sail, but bristling with sensors and weapons.

Photo credit: U.S. Navy
Photo credit: U.S. Navy

The Future Naval Force Study looks at possible directions for the U.S. Navy to take in building a fleet for 2045. Three studies were commissioned from within the Pentagon itself—the Cost Assessment & Program Evaluation office, the Joint Staff, and the Navy—and another by the Hudson Institute, an outside organization.

The Navy will take all of these studies into account, Defense News reports, to ultimately decide on a path forward that will increase the size of the fleet.

The current U.S. Navy battle force fleet consists of 293 ships, including aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers, amphibious ships, and submarines. The Chinese Navy, meanwhile, boasts 350 battle force ships.

China’s warships are generally smaller and less capable than America's—China only has two aircraft carriers—but Beijing is investing in larger, more capable ships. China is currently building its third aircraft carrier, known as 003, and is constructing a third Type 075 amphibious landing ship. Both are key to the country’s power projection capabilities, particularly against Taiwan, and more are almost certainly on the way.

The U.S. Navy has sought a way to grow its fleet for the last 5 years, but is struggling to find a way that doesn’t include paying more money. A single U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, for example, is equipped with one 5-inch gun, 96 missile silos, two helicopters, and a radar capable of tracking targets ranging from sea-skimming cruise missiles to ballistic missile warheads in low-Earth orbit.

A Burke-class ship, like the newly commissioned USS Delbert Black, is one of the most capable warships ever built, but each one costs a hefty $1.8 billion.

Fortunately for the Navy, the robotic revolution that swept the Pentagon after the attacks on 9/11 is now reaching the world of surface ships. In 2019, the Navy’s uncrewed Sea Hunter ship drone sailed autonomously from San Diego to Hawaii and back, proving it can handle long-distance, open-ocean voyages. The Navy is betting that unmanned warships, equipped to function as sub chasers, radar pickets, and floating magazines, are the way forward.

Photo credit: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Sarah Villegas
Photo credit: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Sarah Villegas

An unmanned ship can’t begin to match a destroyers like the USS Delbert Black, but not every warship needs to be a Delbert Black. An unmanned ship could carry weapons and sensors for much less, extending a task force’s detection range and increasing its collective number of missile silos. Other ships might be lightly or optionally manned, with humans only embarked for specific tasks.

The push for unmanned ships also reflects the hard reality for budget planners that the Navy spends almost as much on personnel as it does buying ships and aircraft. The Navy requested $207.1 billion for 2021, asking $57.2 billion for new equipment and $55 billion for for the people to operate it. Those two numbers typically go hand in hand, though unmanned ships and aircraft promise to change that.


📚 Read Up: The Best Military History Books



Ultimately, the key to boosting the Navy isn’t just buying more ships—it’s buying more ships while adding as few sailors to crew them as possible.

Photo credit: rustycloud/Boeing
Photo credit: rustycloud/Boeing

All of the proposals lean heavily on unmanned ships, recommending between 65 and 87 large unmanned surface ships (LUSVs). These are described as about the size of naval corvettes, or between 1,000 to 1,500 tons. Extra large unmanned undersea vessels (XLUUV), like Boeing’s Orca, will likely contribute to the mix, augmenting America’s attack submarine fleet.

Is the U.S. Navy placing too much faith in unmanned vessels? In the 2010s, the service decided that small Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) and the Zumwalt-class stealth destroyers were the future. In both cases, the Navy bought into technological hype only to become bogged down with expensive delays and cost overruns. Ten years later, the LCS class is generally regarded as a failure, and the Navy will build only three of a planned 32 Zumwalts.

If unmanned warships run into rough waters, it could imperil the Navy’s entire effort to grow the fleet.

You Might Also Like