New Missions Mean New Systems

ast fall, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vernon Clark outlined plans for turning the Navy from a service poised to combat the Soviet threat on the high seas to a more agile force that can fight in shallow waters off coastlines around the world. The initiative, known as Sea Power 21, calls for the Navy to take on new missions and requires the service to buy a host of new ships, planes and technology. In 2004, the Navy will begin making a down payment on its future by investing more than half of its $28.8 billion procurement budget on next-generation systems.

"The 21st century sets the stage for tremendous increases in precision, reach and connectivity, ushering in a new era of joint operational effectiveness," Clark told the Senate Armed Services Committee in February. The initiative calls for a host of new technologies designed to provide increased offensive firepower, offer defense for both sea and land forces, and ensure readily available platforms at sea to base troops.

About half of the Navy's procurement budget is marked for such transformational technologies, including $1.2 billion for the next-generation aircraft carrier, the CVN-21, which will not be fielded for another decade; $224 million for developing unmanned aerial vehicles for both attack and reconnaissance missions; $1 billion for a family of surface combatant ships; $2 billion for the Joint Strike Fighter, which will begin production in 2006; and $1 billion to start converting four nuclear missile submarines so that they can carry 150 cruise missiles and offer space for Navy SEALs.

The Navy recently chose three contractors to design the Littoral Combat Ship, which will operate near coastlines. The 2004 budget includes $33 million to begin work on the ships, which will travel at 50 knots, measure from 100 feet to 250 feet long and cost no more than $220 million apiece. The Navy expects to buy as many as 60 of the ships beginning in 2006.

All told, the Navy will spend $11.4 billion in fiscal 2004 on shipbuilding, including the Littoral Combat Ship and other research and development programs. Some of those dollars will go toward building seven new ships, including an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer; a Virginia-class attack submarine; an amphibious transport dock; and two combat cargo ships. The Navy will spend heavily on aircraft as well in 2004, including $3 billion for 42 F-18 Super Hornets.

Two key precision munitions that won high marks for their accuracy during Operation Iraqi Freedom also will see a boost in funding. The Navy will spend $277 million to procure 267 copies of an upgraded version of the Tomahawk cruise missile, and will spend the same amount-$277 million-on more than 12,000 satellite-guided tail kits to turn dumb bombs into more precise Joint Direct Attack Munitions.

The $1 billion Marine Corps procurement budget is included in the Navy's spending plan. Despite concerns about the safety of V-22 aircraft, the Marines will continue to buy them in 2004, but only at the minimum purchasing rate-nine apiece, for a total of $1.4 billion-needed to sustain production. The Marines also will spend $340 million to develop the Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicle, a high-speed air and land vehicle that will be fielded beginning in 2008.