Because of, how the US federal budget and spending process works, Congress cannot demand, to keep the Navy buying amphibious assault ships. US legislators are talking about it..
That is, already 858 billion dollars of military budget (and this is a historical record) not enough for those requests, that were before and are at the moment.
Concerning, not surprising, that the bill lacks clear language, regarding the projected decline in production. But what can legislators do?, so it is to pass laws, that push the command of the Navy in a certain direction. It is in this direction that lawmakers in the United States have been actively working lately..
Congress sends a clear signal to the leadership of the Navy about its desire, so that the construction of large landing ships continues. He set a target for 31 ship, which roughly corresponds to the current state of the US Navy and will require the continuation of the production of ships of the class "San Antonio" - said Mark Kanchian, military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
a view to, referred to by Kanchian, is the so-called specified minimum number of ships, required, so that the fleet and the marine corps can perform certain types of combat missions.
And Capitol Hill, and the Pentagon are obsessed with the idea of a fleet from 355 ships during Trump's presidency. At that time even a law was passed, obliging the Navy to contain just such a numerical strength of the fleet. But today the US Navy has approximately 290 ships, and unclear, will any Pentagon staff be held responsible, if in the near future their number does not reach 355 units.
One of the legislators, defending the position, requiring the presence 31 landing ship (and not a ship less), is Rep. Rob Wittman, whose opinion about shipbuilding matters after, how he was a senior Republican on the House Subcommittee on Navy for many years.
Another sign of that, that lawmakers do not intend to slow down the purchase of amphibians, is the fact, that they authorized additional pre-financing of such purchases. Author:The same Mikhail
