Shortly before his ouster by Donald Trump, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper introduced its “Battle Force 2045” plan, which proposed to set up by 2045 a naval force of 500 units, of which nearly 200 would be autonomous or with reduced crew, in order to be able to meet the challenge now posed by the Chinese Navy. In addition to the numerous autonomous ships and the increase in the number of frigates and submarines, this plan also proposed replace some of the very expensive Ford-class super aircraft carriers with light aircraft carriers, intended to carry out more specific operations for which they would be designed.
The General Staff of the US Navy had from the beginning taken a reserved posture vis-à-vis the plan of the secretary at La Défense, without opposing it, but without showing an overflowing enthusiasm even if this project provided for a very significant increase in credits intended for shipbuilding in the years to come. Indeed, the arbitrations on which Mark Esper had defeated his project lacked strategic depth, and technological perspectives. In other words, it was necessary to begin by precisely evaluating the exact operational consequences of the technological choices made before implementing them.
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