The US Department of Defense wants to withdraw 2 aircraft carriers from the US Navy

We have echoed this widely here, the US Navy's planning for building ships in the years to come faces great uncertainties today. It is indeed caught between the demands of President Trump, taken up by his Defense Secretary Mark Esper, in order to constitute for 2030 a fleet of 355 ships (against 293 today), the will of the General Staff of the US Navy to strengthen and rationalize its surface fleet to the detriment of numbers, and a budget that has already reached its limit, and which cannot, under current circumstances, progress in the years to come. Defense Department Report published yesterday increases the differences between the American political and operational vision, by recommending the elimination of 2 of the 11 aircraft carriers of the US Navy, and the creation of a large fleet of light ships robotized or with reduced crew in order to in the face of the rise of the Chinese Navy.

This report only formats the strategy advocated by Mark Esper since his arrival in the post of Secretary of Defense, namely to increase the volume of the US Navy by small units and robotic units, so as to increase, according to him, the reactivity of the fleet and its distribution on seas of the globe. For this, the DoD report recommends not only the withdrawal of 2 aircraft carriers, but also the maintenance of the number of heavy surface ships, namely cruisers and destroyers, to more than 80 units, and the increase in the number of small combat units of 55 planned (35 LCS and 20 FFG / X) to 70, by adding very probably 15 FFG / X frigates, the LCS having the most limited operational interest in the event of conflict. To achieve the presidential objectives of 355 vessels, the report finally recommends the constitution of a fleet of light vessels automated or with reduced crew, 70 units strong. Like drones like the Predator or the Reaper, these automated naval units have the advantage of having a very long autonomy at sea, and a logistical and human footprint, therefore budgetary, very low, therefore meeting the constraints facing the US Navy today, while increasing the number of ships to "Hold the line" against the Chinese Navy, which will reach 500 units within a few years.

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