HASC Seapower and Projection Forces Mark

Received this from HASC SPPF Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Randy Forbes (R-VA) office this morning.  A whole lot of goodness here...but admittedly, the bar for goodness is set pretty low these days.  This is the mark of a Chairman with a clear view of American Seapower and the guts to push for it.

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Carriers:

·         Authorizes continued funding for CVN-79 and first year funding for CVN-80 planning and long lead item procurement.

·         Grants economic order quantity (EOQ) authority for the construction of CVN-80 and CVN-81 in order to allow the Department to purchase components in batch form, reducing overall cost of items procured.

·         Continues full funding authority for the refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) of CVN-73.

·         Provides incremental funding authority for the RCOH of five Nimitz class aircraft carriers: CVN-73, CVN-74, CVN-75, CVN-76, and CVN-77.

·         Instructs GAO to study costs and delays to the Navy's two-phase contracting strategy for CVN 79, a plan that is likely to slow CVN-79 construction by 18 months.

Destroyers:

·         Provides for the construction of two Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers.

·         Increases funding authority for Aegis destroyer modernization in FY16, following removal of five destroyer mods from the FYDP.

·         Authorizes the Navy to begin Flight III destroyer acquisition including ability to modify existing multiyear destroyer construction authority.

Littoral Combat Ship:

·         Authorizes the construction of 3 LCS.

Amphibious Ships:

·         Accelerates advance procurement of the new LX(R) amphibious ship by two years.

·         Authorizes funding for the completion of LPD-28.

·         Authorizes advance procurement for the 5th Afloat Forward Staging Base.

Auxiliary Ships:

·         Authorizes procurement of the first TAO(X) auxiliary oiler ship.

·         Moves funding for this ship into the National Defense Sealift Account to provide Navy additional flexibility in completing construction.

Virginia Class Submarines:

·         Authorizes the construction of two Virginia class submarines, continuing the highly successful block buy.

·         Expresses support for incorporating Virginia Payload Module (VPM) into the entire Block V Virginia class buy, as opposed to the Navy's current plan to only equip two-thirds of the Block V Virginia class with VPM in the 2020s.

Ohio Class Replacement:

·         Provides $1.39 billion in R&D for SSBN(X), representing the Navy's largest R&D investment.

·         Moves this R&D funding into the National Sea-Based Deterrence Fund, created in last year's NDAA.

·         Reiterates the fact that the ORP acquisition program will "have an extraordinary and detrimental impact to investments in the shipbuilding and construction, Navy, account if traditional funding levels of this account are sustained.  The committee also believes that the entirety of the Department of Defense investment capabilities need to be used to recapitalize this strategic asset."

·         Expands the authorities of the National Sea-Based Deterrence Fund to include incremental funding authority, Economic Order Quantity authority, and an expanded reprogramming authority from the entire DoD to support SSBN(X) with the goal of preserving stability in the SCN account in future years.

·         Calls attention to the "serious resource challenges" inherent to ORP and instructs GAO to assess technology challenges and industrial base implications with the purpose of reducing or preventing cost growth and schedule risk in the program.

Cruiser Modernization/BMD Demand:

·         Prohibits the removal of BMD capabilities from any Ticonderoga-class cruiser until SECNAV certifies Navy has obtained BMD capabilities required by the most recent Navy Force Structure Assessment.

·         Prohibits the retirement, inactivation, or storage of Ticonderoga-class cruisers and Whidbey Island-class amphibious ships.

·         Requires the modernization of two cruisers using previously authorized and appropriated SMOSF funds.

·         Limits the term of cruiser modernization availabilities to 2 years, preventing unnecessary layup of these assets and reducing the likelihood that they may be inactivated at a later date.

Tomahawk Block IV: 

·         Increases Tomahawk procurement to a minimum sustaining production rate of 198 missiles.

MQ-8 Fire Scout:

·         Increases procurement to minimum sustainment rate of 5 air vehicles.

Long Range Strike Bomber:

·         Expresses strong support for the new bomber program as a "key element" in DoD's planned investment in long-range strike.

·         Authorizes the full amount for the program that DoD can execute in FY16, given contract award delays.

·         Instructs GAO to complete an assessment of technology challenges and cost implications associated with LRSB.

KC-46A Tanker:

·         Expresses strong support for KC-46A Tanker as a critical enabler of power projection.

·         Funds the program at the maximum level DoD can execute in FY16.

UCLASS:  Expresses strong support for unmanned carrier-based, long-range penetrating strike capability, specifically stating, "The committee believes that sea-based, long-range strike capabilities have incontrovertible merit and have been an integral element of the U.S. carrier air wings in the past.  Looking ahead, this capability may be the most important capability that the aircraft carrier can provide in contested environments and anti-access/area-denial scenarios.  The committee believes that pursuit of a long-range penetrating strike capability should therefore be a critical focus of naval investments.  The committee also believes that the capabilities offered by unmanned aviation may be the only capability that can support this mission requirement."

Combat Logistics Force Assessment:  Calls for an independent assessment of anticipated future demands of combat logistics force ships and challenges these ships may face in contested maritime environments.  Specifically the review shall include an assessment of CLF "operating in a dispersed manner and not concentrated in carrier or expeditionary strike groups, in accordance with the concept of distributed lethality of the Navy" and an assessment of the force to support Naval assets "engaged in major combat operations against an adversary possessing maritime anti-access and area-denial capabilities, including anti-ship ballistic and cruise missiles, land-based maritime strike aircraft, submarines, and sea mines."

Mine Countermeasure Master Plan: Requires SECNAV to submit a mine countermeasures master plan concurrent with annual budget requests which assesses degree to which current and future capabilities can meet operational plans and contingency requirements.

AMDR Assessment: Calls for a review of the maturity of Air and Missile Defense Radar and the Navy's plans for developing, testing, and integrating AMDR. 

Naval Electric Weapons Systems Fielding Plan:  Notes that electric weapons, such as directed energy and electromagnetic railguns, have "the potential to provide revolutionary new capabilities for Navy platforms, including increased range, increased safety, and deeper magazines than conventional weapons.  The committee believes that such system will be important in the future to counter cost-imposing strategies in an anti-access environment where swarms of low-cost weapons could be used to overwhelm higher-cost, limited numbers of defensive weapons."  As such, the mark instructs SECNAV to develop a plan for fielding electric weapons for both the current and future fleet, including details regarding allocation of the requisite power and space for the fielding of such systems.

Maritime Security Program: Reiterates the critical role that the Maritime Security Program provides the Department in that it provides on-demand "economical commercial sealift capacity, assures a United States-flag presence in international commerce, supports a pool of qualified United States-flag vessels during times of war or national emergency, and serves as a critical component of our national security infrastructure."

Shipbuilding and Industrial Base: Expresses concern regarding the health of the surface combatant industrial base.  "While the Navy public shipyards are expanding to meet significant workload increases associated with the growth of unplanned Nimitz-class carrier work and the nuclear undersea warfare industrial base is programmed to increase their capacity with the introduction of the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine replacement program beginning in fiscal year 2019, the committee notes that a limited shipbuilding and conversion Navy account may disproportionately and irrevocably impact the non-nuclear surface combatant industrial base."  The language continues, "The committee believes that continued long term, multiyear procurement and block buy contracts are integral to sustaining the overall industrial base."

Coast Guard Polar Icebreaker: Expresses the view that "the administration has inadequately valued the necessity to procure required icebreaker capability.  The committee believes the failure to acquire all domain access capability in polar region expeditionary may irreparably harm Department of Defense national security mission, and may leave the Department in which the Coast Guard is operating unable to meet its anticipated future responsibilities…"