In fact, long-range anti-ship missiles, such as the DF-21D, have engendered some measure of debate about the future of carriers; a recent think-tank, Navy study (Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment) recently found that smaller, faster and more agile carriers may need to be engineered for the future in response to guided missiles able to travel as far as 900 nautical miles.

The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA), a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, has released its new Fleet Architecture Study, which includes recommendations for what kinds of ships should make up the future U.S. Navy fleet, and how it should be organized. 

The $54 billion increase would not be enough for the Navy to increase ship construction all at once, particularly in light of the fact that the Navy and other military services are struggling with readiness issues, said Bryan Clark, a senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. Addressing readiness is a top priority of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, so it’s likely that a good portion of any increase in funding for the Navy would go toward that, Clark said. Clark justified the need for 18 more attack submarines, describing how the U.S. faces a very different set of security challenges today given improved military capabilities by Russia and China. There’s a big demand for the intelligence gathering and coordination of special operations forces where the U.S. doesn’t want to have a visible presence, he said. That drives the number of submarines up, Clark said, explaining that four and a half submarines are needed to maintain one submarine deployed overseas when factoring in maintenance, training and the distance that these nuclear-powered submarines travel.

McCain was speaking at the roll-out of a new report, "Restoring American Seapower: A New Fleet Architecture for the United States Navy," by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. The report was one of three commissioned by Congress to study new capabilities and organizational plans for the Navy's future fleet. The CSBA report specifically advocates for truncating the LCS program as soon as possible and building a larger guided missile frigate, similar to what McCain supports. The study also calls for building 71 frigates; the frigate, like the LCS, falls into the small surface combatant family of ships. The Navy currently has a requirement for just 52 small surface combatants, according to the service's 2016 Force Structure Assessment.

Speaking on Capitol Hill at the rollout of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments' report on the structure of the future fleet, Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, said he wants to open up a new contract competition on the frigate's design, entertaining both U.S. and foreign proposals. "We've got to look at the challenges we're facing that the littoral combat ship does not address," he said. Speaking to reporters following the briefing, McCain said he plans to hold hearings in the subcommittee on seapower to discuss the frigate's evolving requirements and how to proceed on the program.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) plans to hold hearings on the Navy’s frigate program amidst calls to open the competition to more domestic and foreign designs. McCain – a constant critic of the Littoral Combat Ship, which serves as the basis for the Navy’s frigate plans – told reporters on Tuesday that hearings before the Senate Armed Services seapower subcommittee would seek to reexamine the entire frigate program. “The frigate acquisition strategy should be revised to increase requirements to include convoy air defense, greater missile capability and longer endurance,” he said at an event outlining the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments’ recent U.S. Navy fleet architecture study, reported Inside the Navy. “When you look at some of the renewed capabilities, naval capabilities, that both the Russians and the Chinese have, it requires more capable weapon systems.”