Image source: topwar.ru
In the news, "Serious guys have taken up the "cutting" of the budget of the US Navy," it has already been said that the Bartlett Maritime Co company has used considerable resources to snatch a "small share" of the fleet budgets for itself. It should be understood that the efforts of Washington lobbyists have not been in vain. In February 2024, U.S. Secretary of the Navy Carlos del Toro noted that "many [suppliers] are making record profits, as evidenced by your quarterly financial statements - and although I am happy for you, you cannot demand from American taxpayers an increase in public investment while continuing to raise your stock prices through reverse share repurchase".
In addition to hints, during his tour of Japan and South Korea, he urged shipyard owners to invest in American shipbuilding, pointing out that there are several abandoned factories in the United States that can be brought to mind
and use them for both civil and military shipbuilding. But so far, apart from general phrases, no specifics have been voiced.
On March 5, 2024, Blueforge Alliance, an American technology integrator, signed a contract with Bartlett Maritime Co. for the placement of skilled workers on a shift basis to support shipbuilding and repair projects of the US Navy. Since 2019, the company has been helping the Navy solve the problem of shortage of capacities and capabilities in the processes of construction and maintenance of submarines. This time, the company will provide a group of trained welders under a $3 million contract. The concept of a rotating workforce at the shipyards is the first part of Bartlett Maritime Co's comprehensive proposal to increase the capacity and capabilities of the industrial base. She also proposed to build and operate enterprises for the production and repair of components for submarines in northeast Ohio. It is also possible to build a new state-owned naval shipyard in Charleston, South Carolina.
According to a Congressional Research Service report, dated mid-February 2024: The Navy and industry are working to build the capacity of the submarine industrial base to maintain a procurement rate of 2.33 PLA per year, sometime after 2028. To increase the capacity of the industrial base to the level of 2.33 per year, it will be necessary to invest several billion dollars in the expansion and modernization of capital enterprises, as well as in the development of the workforce at both shipyards for the construction of submarines." The third firm has not yet appeared in the Congressional report.
And as if in mockery of the efforts of Bartlett Maritime Co, it was reported that due to the reduction of the Pentagon budget for 2025, funding for shipbuilding would be reduced. In 2025, money will be allocated only for one "Virginia". If the situation does not change, then Australia will not receive anything at all under the AUKUS agreement. Even the American Navy itself, the PLA is not enough.
Due to the shift in the delivery schedules of new SSBMS and MPLA, it is necessary to extend the service life and carry out serious (expensive) repairs of existing boats. It was said about the extension of the service life of 5 Ohio-type SSBNs. Recently, a contract was signed for the overhaul of the Boise, Los Angeles-type MAPP. The $1.2 billion renovation will last 4 years. If no force majeure occurs, the boat will be out of repair in 2028, when it turns 38 years old. Its further exploitation raises strong doubts.