Frigate Capabilities
Hagel said he has asked the Navy to design a “capable and lethal small surface combatant, consistent with the capabilities of a frigate.” The Navy must consider new designs as well as modifications to the current LCS design, Hagel said.
Current spending plans foresee the Navy keeping 11 aircraft carrier groups, Hagel said. “However, we will have to make a final decision on the future of the George Washington aircraft carrier in the 2016 budget,” he said.
If Congress doesn’t reverse sequestration by 2016, the George Washington would be retired before a scheduled overhaul, leaving the Navy with 10 carriers, Hagel said.
While reducing the size of the Army “entails some added risk if we execute extended or simultaneous ground operations, our analysis showed that this force would be capable of decisively defeating aggression in one major combat theater” in addition to defending the U.S. homeland and supporting air and naval forces, Hagel said.
If Congress doesn’t reverse the automatic budget cuts by 2016, active-duty Army “would have to draw down to an end-strength of 420,000 soldiers,” Hagel said.
Hagel said special operations forces will grow to 69,700 personnel from 66,000 today because they’re “uniquely suited to the most likely missions of the future.”
“The clear message” from Hagel’s proposal “is that if Congress chooses to ignore these reforms again, it will force additional cuts in training and modernization which will break faith with the troops,” said Todd Harrison, a defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a Washington-based policy group.