Less Planes, To Make Room For New Ships

Is the US Navy cutting aviation to buy more ships? Internal documents obtained by InsideDefense.com would seem to indicate so.

They say the Navy's FY2007 long-term budget -- which is still under wraps by officials -- reflects cuts of up to 189 proposed aircraft purchases through FY2013... including 19 in FY2008 alone. This comes at a time when Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Michael Mullen has emphasized the need to shore up the Navy's shipbuilding accounts.

Plans to purchase eight F-35 Joint Strike Fighters in FY2008 also appear to be off; the F-35s comprised eight of the 19 aircraft slashed from that year's budget.

Additionally, under the new budget the sea service will purchase only 91 STOL F-35s for the Marine Corps through FY2013, and 45 of the carrier variants -- instead of the previously planned 126 and 66 respectively. Also cut for FY2008 were several H-1 and MH-60 helicopters, T-6A/B Texan II trainers, and MQ-8B Fire Scout U-A-Vs.

At the same time, according to a December 2005 story in the New York Times, the Navy wants to increase the size of its fleet from 281 to 313 ships by 2020.

The defense budget approved by the Senate for this year included $9.6 billion to buy eight new warships. That's $1 billion, and four ships, more than the Navy asked for -- to make up for years of declining orders for US Navy ships.

"We are at a crisis in shipbuilding," a senior Navy official said at the time. "If we don't start building this up next year and the next year and the next year, we won't have the force we need."

One can bet the US Air Force wishes they had friends like that in the Senate -- maybe they'd have a new tanker by now...

FMI: www.navy.mil