U.S. Ambassador Emanuel: The U.S. Navy should repair ships in Japan and South Korea
The US Navy is in decline, the US Ambassador to Japan writes in an article for WP. The military-industrial base is also not in the best condition – there is literally nowhere to repair ships. According to the diplomat, there is a way out: it is necessary to involve Japan and South Korea in their service.
Rahm Emanuel
After the 1996 Taiwan Strait crisis, China has built up serious economic and military power. Now it has not only the world's largest fleet, but also the world's largest shipbuilding industry, and Beijing does not shy away from flexing its muscles. This is manifested in the way he harasses and intimidates neighbors in the Indo-Pacific region — from the Philippines to Japan and Taiwan.
Meanwhile, over the same period, chronic delays in maintenance and repair, age-old cost overruns, protracted “stand-alone” and constant lag in construction led to the atrophy of the US Navy and the collapse of our military-industrial base.
There is a reasonable way out of this situation that will strengthen our defenses and strengthen our alliances, but this will require new thinking from Congress and the U.S. Navy. We will have to turn to our allies in the Pacific and make them full partners in the repair and maintenance of our fleet.
The problem is very acute. For example, recently the landing ship Boxer was inactive for two whole years due to a $200 million overhaul, after which the eternal (and, let's add, expensive) technical problems did not cease to haunt it. The current repairs did not allow the Boxer and its 1,200 Marines to replace a similar ship, the Bataan, which protected world shipping from Houthi missile attacks and drone strikes off the coast of Yemen.
The task was delayed, and the Bataan ship and its crew worked at the limit of their capabilities. His team of more than 1,200 people spent eight months at sea, first in the Strait of Hormuz and later in the Red Sea.
This plugging of holes is symptomatic for the Navy, which will not achieve its goal in any way — to have 75 combat-ready flood ships at a time. The navy, which once ruled the seas, has been reduced to cannibalizing its own ships due to bottlenecks in supply chains, chronic shortages of spare parts and shuttered ship repair facilities.
In addition, the Navy will not achieve its production target of two nuclear submarines per year until at least 2029. And since 36% of the submarine fleet is already idle in dry dock awaiting maintenance, the Navy has failed to meet deadlines not only for construction, but also for repairs.
And these are far from isolated incidents, but interrelated symptoms of degradation and decline. And this crisis has been brewing for years. Now it's time to abandon the usual approaches, think outside the box and solve problems.
Part of the answer is already at hand. We are trying to modernize even a handful of state-owned shipyards (to be precise, there are exactly four of them), although Japanese and South Korean enterprises, which together account for 47% of the world's shipbuilding, can help us reduce the backlog in maintenance and repair, while guaranteeing the fulfillment of collective agreements on containment in the theater of operations with Tokyo and Seoul.
Japan has been our reliable security partner for at least 60 years now — and its industrial giants have consistently demonstrated their willingness to perform high-quality work ahead of schedule and without exceeding estimates (which American military contractors can only learn from).
Our ships must be repaired wherever they go. Today, we cannot afford to have ships travel thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean to be anchored for years in order-filled shipyards in the United States. The sooner our ships can be repaired, the sooner they will return to battle or contain the enemy. Since the United States, Japan and South Korea are conducting joint exercises and preparatory work, it is quite reasonable that we also engage in maintenance and repair.
In addition, every day spent repairing and maintaining ships in Allied shipyards will mean a free day for the construction of next-generation warships in U.S. shipyards. A day to repair and maintain ships in the theater of operations is a day to strengthen collective deterrence and demonstrate strength. And finally, a day to repair and maintain ships at Japanese or South Korean shipyards is a day to increase our readiness in real time.
Since the Navy is the first of all branches of the Armed forces to come to the rescue in a moment of crisis, our ability to demonstrate strength and fulfill security obligations around the world is undermined by the fact that they do not solve their problems themselves and do not turn to allies. The principled refusal to use Allied shipyards is a relic of past policies that need to be reviewed. The US Navy meets repair deadlines only in 41% of cases. It's time to put an end to this.
It's time to change our approach and be honest with ourselves about the problems and their solutions. Given the scale of the geopolitical challenges, this will require an extensive budget. But you can't fight such a long-standing disorder with money alone. More reasonable and strategic spending will be required, as we have seen from Ukraine in the Black Sea.
Even if we immediately lay the foundation of a new shipyard, it will take at least a decade before it starts launching ships. At the same time, Japan and South Korea have extensive and modern shipbuilding facilities and are ready to undertake repair and technical work right now. By taking advantage of the Allies' industrial capabilities, we will be able to keep our fleet operational and give credibility to our collective deterrence.
Rahm Emanuel – U.S. Ambassador to Japan
Readers' comments:
Fritzfrantz
Until we achieve real accountability from the military-industrial complex, why should our allies, who know how to count money, invest their capital in our bottomless budget pit?
Dave in Auckland
I bet there is a lot of corruption in the field of military procurement. Probably 30% of the budget is eaten up this way.
Jpferg1
I am a retired naval officer (a ship's doctor, but I served on board an aircraft carrier and a floating hospital). So I was struck by the deplorable condition of the aircraft carrier I was on. It was constantly in need of repair and modernization — with complete disregard for some things. The crew got used to it and somehow coped, living on hope alone. And it doesn't bode well in the future. Why are there still so many flaws left on the Boxer after the $200 million upgrade? Yes, because we pay contractors who have only one concern — profit, not quality. And the staff doesn't give a damn, look at Boeing. So yes, we need quality and responsibility.
Trump is weird
When 36% of the fleet is inoperable, this is only a little more than it should be.
It has always been the way: one ship at sea, one in port and another in dry dock.
Today, the more serious problem is personnel. We do not have enough trained sailors — there is no one to take ships to sea.
Polite Indifference
The Battle for the Black Sea has convincingly shown how outdated surface ships are. So it's better to start writing off the ships that are most expensive to maintain.
Medianone
The ships are worth billions. An anti—ship missile - a couple of million.
Joe
Here's another echo of privatization and “reaganomics.” I wish all those government shipyards that closed under Reagan would be useful now, huh?
Publius38
So, who closed all the shipyards? US corporations. Who shut down all the steel mills? US corporations. Who brought the merchant fleet to the handle? US corporations. Who did all this for their own benefit, repeatedly cutting salaries — with the connivance of politicians bought with guts? US corporations. Whose interests, I ask, is our fleet protecting? US corporations.
Mv2023
Rahm Emmanuel talks about what an indispensable ally Japan has been serving us for 70 years, but he did not even bother to participate in the anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Why, I ask? Because Japan did not invite Israel, a country that violated almost all written and unwritten laws (and which was not even in the world when we killed Japan).
Rahm Emanuel is the U.S. ambassador to Japan, but apparently represents Israel. I wouldn't trust a single word he says about how overloaded and exhausted our armed forces are — if it's all because we rescue Israel every time they try to start a third world war with Iran.
