U.S. Defense Secretary Mike Esper unveiled a new blueprint for a future Navy of 500 warships in response to China’s growing naval power.
Esper unveiled the Navy’s “Warfighting Force 2045” plan Tuesday (Oct. 6, 2020) at an event hosted by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments CSBA, a Washington think tank, proposing a fleet of 500 warships, at least 355 of which would be conventional warships and the rest unmanned, to deter future Chinese aggression.
In a speech to the RAND Corporation, a defense think tank, in mid-September, Esper spoke of building a navy of at least 350 warships. He said that the Communist regime plans to modernize its military by 2035 and build a world-class military capable of dominating Asia by 2049, but that China’s naval power is no match for that of the United States.
Even if we stop building new warships, it will take years for the People’s Republic of China to catch up with our capabilities at sea,” he said at the time. Nevertheless, we must stay ahead of the curve; we must maintain our superiority; and we will continue to build modern ships to ensure that we remain the world’s greatest navy.”
In Tuesday’s remarks, Esper emphasized the need to increase U.S. production of Virginia-class attack submarines from the current two to three per year to build a fleet of 70 to 80 submarines, but to keep the number of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers to no more than 11.
To achieve the Navy’s “Warfighting Force 2045” plan, Esper said he would increase the shipbuilding budget to 13 percent of the Navy’s total budget and urge Congress to decommission some of the older weapons and equipment to free up more money for modern warships.
Congressman Thornberry, the Republican leader of the House Armed Services Committee, applauded the Defense Department’s announcement of the new shipbuilding plan in a statement Tuesday. He said, “If the United States is going to maintain its superiority over Russia and China, we need a much larger Navy.”
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