The Navy plans to reduce the size of its ship fleet from 313 to 300, AOL Defense reports.That number of ships was also set to decrease to 279 in 2014, 8 less than the originally planned fleet of 287.
The Navy’s top acquisition officers were scheduled to testify at a House Armed Services seapower subcommittee hearing Friday, according to AOL.
The Navy plans to reduce its ballistic missile submarines to 10 and reduce its DDG and SSN classes.
The production budget will also receive a 20 percent decrease.
Ron O’Rourke, a naval analyst at the Congressional Research Service, told AOL that the Navy’s plan was designed to compensate for last year’s shortfalls in destroyers and attack submarines.
Loren Thompson, industry analyst for the Lexington Institute, said the Navy’s plan to defer Virginia-class subs from 2014 to a new five-year plan will increase production cost.
