Navy keeps carriers in draft QDR - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Navy keeps carriers in draft QDR

The Pentagon’s latest vision for the Navy of tomorrow does not change dramatically from its current goals — and keeps a fleet of at least 10 aircraft carriers — according to an early draft version of the Quadrennial Defense Review obtained by Navy Times.

The report, a final version of which is expected early next week along with the Navy Department’s budget submission, calls for now-familiar incremental additions to the fleet, and it generally reaffirms the utility of the sea service in defending the U.S., projecting power abroad without land bases and working with the other branches of the military.

The version of the report obtained by Navy Times is dated Dec. 3, and a person familiar with the review says the final version will likely include updates and edits. Still, a panel of defense experts Tuesday at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington affirmed in a briefing they expected no major shockwaves from this year’s QDR.

Beltway chatter has been bleak about what sacrifices this year’s report would include for the Navy Department, including the loss of one or two carrier strike groups, but the draft included no such changes.

The Navy’s biggest new mission or commitment in the QDR is the standing ballistic-missile defense patrols that warships will begin off Europe next year. As a part of that mission, the review calls for increasing the number of Aegis BMD-equipped warships to as many 32 by fiscal 2015, up from the current goal of 27 by fiscal 2013.

Also, the Navy will be tasked with dedicating two permanent helicopter squadrons devoted to supporting special operations troops. Today, SEAL operators must cooperate with Army or Air Force units when they need to use helicopters.

Otherwise, the review recommends continuing U.S. presence and engagement in the Pacific, Africa and Europe; reforming the process for fielding new weapons; and “strengthening” the industrial base, a constant concern in Navy shipbuilding.

Significantly, the draft document does not answer or address many of the questions that senior Navy decision-makers have deferred to it for months:

• It does not weigh in on what the Navy should do about its projected “fighter gap” — the period in which planners say the fleet will have too few aging F/A-18 Hornets and not enough new F-35C Lightning IIs for all its missions.

• It does not settle the issue over whether the Navy should move an aircraft carrier from Naval Station Norfolk, Va., to Naval Station Mayport, Fla., in the interest of “strategic dispersal.” The Navy issued a “record of decision” last year saying that it would move a ship, but at the behest of Virginia lawmakers, the Pentagon said it would examine the Norfolk-Mayport question as part of the QDR.

It did say the U.S. will “provide an alternative port to dock East Coast aircraft carriers to mitigate the risk of a manmade or natural disaster.” But the draft QDR makes no mention of a specific home port shift, nor does it name the carrier to be moved.

• It does not address the fate of the Marine Corps’ Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, as Defense Secretary Robert Gates said it would when he announced a preliminary round of weapons cuts last April.

In terms of raw numbers, here’s how the draft QDR breaks down the Navy’s goals for force structure out to fiscal year 2015:

• 10 to 11 aircraft carriers.

• Nine to 10 carrier air wings.

• 84 to 90 large surface combatants, including 19 to 32 BMD-capable combatants.

• 14 to 28 small surface combatants.

• 29 to 33 amphibious warfare ships.

• 51 to 55 attack submarines.

• Four guided-missile submarines.

• Three maritime pre-positioning squadrons.

• 30 to 34 combat logistics force ships.

• 17 to 24 command and support vessels (including JHSV).

The report also calls for:

• Extending the lives of EA-6B Prowler electronic attack aircraft and procuring additional EA-18G Growlers.

• “Investigating expanding the cruise-missile capabilities” of Virginia-class attack submarines.

• Experimenting with the Navy’s Unmanned Combat Aerial System by fiscal 2015, which “offers the potential to greatly increase the range of strike aircraft operating from the Navy’s carrier fleet.”

• Increasing funding for an advanced unmanned underwater vehicle.

For in-depth QDR coverage, visit DefenseNews.com