To bring balance back to the Fleet, the surface Navy needs to fill the shipbuilding capability gap between its high- and low-end platforms.
The U.S. Navy has a narrow window of opportunity to lay out a plan for future surface-combatant shipbuilding. Some may argue that with the upcoming budget cuts needed to deal with a multitrillion-dollar federal deficit, the Navy may have missed its chance. However, with adversity there is new opportunity. If a plan is chosen that can be shown to be affordable in both acquisition and sustainment, there is no better time than now to determine what that shipbuilding plan should be that will constitute the bulk of the Navy surface-combatant forces for the immediate future.
