Close to Shore

After spending several years developing its next-generation ships, the Navy will begin building them under the service's $44 billion acquisition budget for fiscal 2005.

"I need these ships tomorrow," John Young, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, said in late May in announcing the two contracting teams-one led by Lockheed Martin, the other by General Dynamics-that will build the Navy's Littoral Combat Ship.

The LCS is a fast, agile warship that can carry out multiple missions, such as mine-sweeping and anti-surface warfare, along coastlines. The Navy believes it will increasingly fight future wars in these shallow waters, rather than in the wide-open seas. In fiscal 2005, the Navy will spend $352.1 million to build the first LCS prototype and continue design development. Eventually, the Navy could buy as many as 60 of the ships at an estimated cost of $12 billion.

Also on tap for fiscal 2005 is $1.65 billion to begin buying and further developing the Navy's next-generation surface destroyer, known as DD(X). The surface combatant ship, to be built by Northrop Grumman, will use technologies that also could be developed for the LCS and small destroyers. The Navy could buy as many as 70 DD(X) ships for about $100 billion. These ships eventually will replace the Aegis guided missile destroyer. The Navy will spend $3.5 billion in fiscal 2005 to buy its last three Aegis ships.

The Navy has earmarked other fiscal 2005 funding to beef up its submarine fleet. The service will spend $2.5 billion on the seventh of 10 Virginia-class Seawolf attack submarines. Additionally, the Navy will set aside $658.4 million to convert two Ohio-class Trident ballistic missile submarines into vessels that can carry more than 150 Tomahawk cruise missiles and special operations forces. They are the final two of four conversions from ballistic-missile to guided-missile submarines targeted for completion by fiscal 2007.

In June of this year, the Navy awarded a contract to build its Multimission Maritime Aircraft, which will replace its aging but venerable P-3 Orion surveillance aircraft. Boeing won an initial $3.8 billion multiyear deal to begin developing the aircraft, which the Navy will start buying in 2010. Boeing surprised many industry observers by beating out Lockheed Martin, the original P-3 contractor, for work that eventually could be worth nearly $68 billion to build 108 modified 737 jet airliners.

Other acquisition priorities include $3.1 billion to buy 42 F-18 E/F Super Hornet fighter planes; $978 million to develop the Navy's next-generation aircraft carrier, the CVN-21; $285 million for 293 Tomahawk missiles, and $2.2 billion to develop the Joint Strike Fighter. The Navy's acquisition budget, which also covers the Marine Corps, includes $27.7 billion for procurement and $16.3 billion for research, development, test and evaluation.

Young told a House Armed Services subcommittee in March that the fiscal 2005 budget "reflects the investments that will most improve our warfighting capability by developing and investing in future sea-based and expeditionary capabilities for the Navy and Marine Corps."

The Marine Corps' spending priorities include $918 million to buy eight V-22 Osprey aircraft; $175 million to build 97 lightweight 155 mm howitzers; $236 million to test the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle; $131 million for 1,830 four- and five-ton trucks, and $245.4 million for ammunition.