Analysis: Navy plan comes up short

A top defense analyst says the Navy’s 30-year shipbuilding and modernization plan is problematic from both budget and threat perspectives, reports Aviation Week.

Named for the number of ships the Navy wants by fiscal 2020, the so-called 313-ship fleet plan lacks important capabilities to meet the operational demands of current strategic challenges, Robert Work, vice president for strategic studies with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, wrote in a new report.

“Specifically, [the Navy] lacks the range to face increasingly lethal, land-based, maritime reconnaissance-strike complexes or nuclear-armed regional adversaries,” Work wrote. “Moreover, it does not adequately take into account the changing nature of undersea warfare, or the potential prospect of a major maritime competition with China.”

What’s more, the former Marine Corps colonel says the Navy’s plans are “far too ambitious” given the likely future budget constraints.