The United States must modernize its fleet of attack submarines, Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., said in Politico.
Wittman, the chairman of the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, noted that China is ramping up the "lethality and survivability" of its submarines, while Russia is also modernizing its fleet.
However, Wittman said the U.S. submarine fleet is diminishing. “The Navy has just 52 attack submarines, far below the 66 the agency said are needed to meet its operational plans. Even worse, the fleet is scheduled to shrink by 20 percent over the next decade,” Wittman wrote.
"In other words, while our adversaries are investing in a next-generation submarine force, we are letting ours wither," the Virginia congressman added.
The congressman pointed to February testimony from Adm. Harry Harris, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, in which Harris said that China’s shipbuilding plan would put China ahead of Russia as the nation’s second-largest navy by 2020.
The U.S Navy released a 30-year shipbuilding plan in February, but it did not recommend an "aggressive" schedule for building although combatant commanders called for it, Wittman wrote in Politico.
In the current plan, the U.S. would be down to 42 submarines by 2028, and it would not have 66 until 2048, Wittman noted.
“This is unacceptable and puts us at a disadvantage in potential future wars,” Wittman wrote.
Wittman called on Congress to fund a plan to speed up the timeline for submarine building to get the fleet up to 66. "Yes, we live in a budget-constrained environment. But we also live in an increasingly dangerous world with undersea presence," Wittman wrote.
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