Biden wishes to abruptly withdraw a dozen ships, putting the United States on a course for China to outgun us at sea.
The Biden government intends to drastically reduce the US budget. Almost a dozen ships would have to be abruptly retired from service, and vital missile defense systems that act as the main barrier to Chinese invasion would have to be taken offline.
The 2024 budget plan from President Joe Biden would do a great deal of damage to the already overworked American Navy; the White House wants to withdraw eight ships and two battle vessels early. According to legislative study given to the Washington Free Beacon, by pulling these ships out of commission, the Navy would lose more than 600 vertical launch missile systems—a weapon capacity that acts as the main barrier to Chinese military assaults in the Pacific.
According to Sen. Roger Wicker (R., Miss.), the senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, “the Biden Administration’s defense budget would hollow out our fleet and scrap Navy radars and missile systems we desperately need to deter China.” “Sending the wrong message to China as they continue to rapidly develop their own Navy is premature retirement of our ships.”
In Biden’s proposal, at least 11 ships would be retired and only nine new ships would be built, reducing the overall number of operational Navy ships. The Navy presently only has 294 task force ships, far less than the 355 that are needed to meet legal requirements. According to details about the White House’s 2023 budget plan that Wicker’s office has formalized, Biden’s budget would further decrease this figure.
According to American military officials, China plans to upgrade its fleet with aircraft carriers, guided missile destroyers, and surface battle ships by 2025 as part of a fast development strategy. There are currently about 340 ships in China’s navy.
The Marine Corps has repeatedly asked for at least 31 landing vessels, which would be crucial in any armed confrontation with China, but the White House budget plan ignores those demands. The Biden administration is anticipated to order a “strategic pause” in the acquisition of updated destroyers, leaving the force short of its constitutional minimum of 31 ships as three of these ships are being decommissioned.
The Biden administration “seems to be under the illusion that the PRC will be deterred by strongly worded government reports and joint pressers with allies,” according to Rebeccah Heinrichs, a national security expert with the Hudson Institute think tank.
She said, “Leaders of the Navy and Marine Corps have stated what they need to do, and this White House has decided they know better.” “There is no getting around the fact that Americans will have to spend money to build the Navy this country needs to win a war and deter China.”
The Pentagon recently rejected a Navy proposal to increase the number of ships that can transport American troops and equipment into the Pacific as part of a strategic shift away from the Middle East, exposing internal disagreement on this issue within the Biden administration.
With only a 2.5% increase over the prior year’s budget, Biden’s budget flattens the Navy’s construction proposal and falls short of inflation. According to Wicker’s office, the total number of new ship proposals will also decrease from 12 to 9, and this includes a potential stop on the building of rescue and recovery ships, rapid transit ships, and naval combat ships.
According to Wicker’s office, by decommissioning 11 ships, the Navy would lose a significant part of its vertical launching system cells, which house the missiles mainly used to thwart Chinese assaults in the Pacific.
According to the budget data supplied by Wicker, Biden’s budget seeks to cut expenditure on navy reactors—which power nuclear-armed submarines—by 5.6 percent, or $1.96 billion, in comparison to last year’s budget.
These funding cuts will put additional strain on the American submarine industry, which is already under stress as a result of the US announcement that it would expedite the delivery of several nuclear-powered submarines to Australia.
In reality, the president’s military budget is drowning our future armada, Wicker recently cautioned.