No doubt about your thoughts over the need for a larger navy and the research report stated the goal of creating a 381 ship navy but not sure if that considers Project 33 at part of the goal or if it for 381 manned ships. Projecting power into the western Pacific against a peer adversary will require, to your point, a bigger navy.
The questions and problems of shipbuilding constraints and the role of drones and long range missiles that can target ships has reintroduced the debate if smaller carriers and long range striking capability would be a more cost effective option.
The 10 Nimitz class carriers will reach the end of their lifespans before an equal number of Ford class carriers can replace them which means Congress and the DoD have to come up with options which will most likely mean there will be a time where the U.S. will have less than 10 carriers which is contrary to Congressional mandates or increase the navy’s budget to speed up production. The debate will be forced to find a solution or change the law one way or another. Beijing will definitely be watching this debate.
As far as I'm concerned, we are facing an antagonist with four times our population; we need to maintain and grow our navy.
No doubt about your thoughts over the need for a larger navy and the research report stated the goal of creating a 381 ship navy but not sure if that considers Project 33 at part of the goal or if it for 381 manned ships. Projecting power into the western Pacific against a peer adversary will require, to your point, a bigger navy.
The questions and problems of shipbuilding constraints and the role of drones and long range missiles that can target ships has reintroduced the debate if smaller carriers and long range striking capability would be a more cost effective option.
The 10 Nimitz class carriers will reach the end of their lifespans before an equal number of Ford class carriers can replace them which means Congress and the DoD have to come up with options which will most likely mean there will be a time where the U.S. will have less than 10 carriers which is contrary to Congressional mandates or increase the navy’s budget to speed up production. The debate will be forced to find a solution or change the law one way or another. Beijing will definitely be watching this debate.