Source: Yangguang Military · Chinese Military Trumpet Author: Wang Bing
According to reports, US Navy Operations Secretary Michael Gilday recently proposed a new shipbuilding plan at the annual meeting of the US Navy. He said the U.S. Navy will consist of 513 capital ships in the future, including about 363 manned combat ships and 150 unmanned ships. What is the U.S. Navy's intention to come up with a crazy plan to expand its troops? Can such a plan be realized and what difficulties are faced? On related topics, a reporter from the Central Broadcasting Corporation of the General Taiwan Bureau interviewed Military Observer Yin Zhuo.
Data Chart: US Aircraft Carrier (People's Vision)
Yin Zhuo, a military observer, believes that the US military's crazy military expansion plan reflects the AMBITION OF the US Navy to compete for world maritime hegemony and vainly attempt to maintain its world hegemonic status.
Yin Zhuo: Today, the US military strategy has shifted to "great power competition." In the strategy of "great power competition," the United States wants to deal with Russia in the direction of Europe on the one hand, and the Asian powers in the direction of Asia. Now that the pace of U.S. economic development is declining, the United States feels overwhelmed by both Russia and Asian powers in terms of its current military might. As a result, the U.S. military proposed a military expansion plan in an attempt to defeat its main competitors by strengthening its military might. The United States has always relied on the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to control the Eurasian plate, and it is based on this strategic vision that the U.S. Navy has proposed a new shipbuilding plan.
U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Michael Gildy (right) and Marine Corps Commander David Berger at the West conference
According to reports, US Navy Chief of Operations Michael Gilday introduced that the future fleet composition of the US Navy will include 12 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, 70 attack nuclear submarines, 12 strategic nuclear submarines, 60 destroyers, 50 frigates, 9 amphibious assault ships, 20 large dock landing ships, 30 small amphibious/dock landing ships, 100 support ships and 150 unmanned ships. Military observer Yin Zhuo believes that judging from the information released so far, the US Navy will still take the development of aircraft carrier strike groups as the core in the future, and unmanned ships are also an important direction for future development.
Yin Zhuo: The most obvious feature of the US Navy's military expansion plan is that it wants to increase the current 11 aircraft carriers to 12 aircraft carriers. We know that adding 1 carrier means increasing the number and size of U.S. destroyers, cruisers, and frigates. To add an aircraft carrier formation, at least 14 ships should be added, including 1 aircraft carrier, 9 destroyers, frigates, cruisers, 2 attack nuclear submarines, and 1 to 2 large maritime supply ships of more than 40,000 tons, while also increasing the home port of the aircraft carrier. With 12 aircraft carriers as its core, this is the main idea of the U.S. Navy.
In addition, the US military's ballistic missile nuclear submarines should be increased. At present, the U.S. military has only 14 ballistic missile submarines, and the U.S. military plans to increase to 19. The increase in ballistic missile submarines also means an increase in the number of nuclear warheads in the US military. We know that each "Columbia" class nuclear submarine of the US military carries 16 missiles, and if 5 more nuclear submarines are added, it means that 80 missiles are added, and the additional 80 missiles represent that the US military will add hundreds of nuclear warheads. In addition, the U.S. military currently has 60 attack nuclear submarines, which it plans to increase to more than 70. Overall, the allocation of 513 ships is mainly considered in terms of scale. As for the improvements in quality, Michael Gilday did not elaborate this time.
U.S. Military "355 Ships" Plan (Observer Network)
In response to questions about whether the US military expenditure can support this shipbuilding plan, Michael Gilday, the US Navy Operations Secretary, said that the 513 ships are "basically in line with the Navy's long-term shipbuilding plan in the US military budget for fiscal 2022." Yin Zhuo, a military observer, analyzed that whether from the perspective of US economic strength or from the perspective of the distribution of interests among the various branches of the US military, the United States is not capable of realizing such a large-scale naval expansion plan.
Yin Zhuo: In fact, the US economy is sluggish, its share in the world economy has been declining, and the US Department of Defense is also actively looking for a balance in the allocation of military spending. It should be known that such a large-scale increase in military spending will inevitably bring about the problem of redistribution of benefits. If such a military expansion plan proposed by the U.S. Navy is realized, the proportion of the U.S. Navy's military spending in several branches of the U.S. Military will increase significantly, and it will far exceed that of the U.S. Army and Air Force. Such a large proportion is obviously unacceptable to other us services.
In addition, although the US military industrial group is a whole, the competition between them is also extremely fierce. If interest groups represented by the U.S. Navy receive a large proportion of military spending, what about U.S. military-industrial interest groups representing the Air Force, Army, and Marine Corps? We note that the 513-ship shipbuilding plan now proposed by U.S. Secretary of Naval Operations Michael Gilday was presented at the U.S. Navy's annual meeting, so this may be just his personal vision. The U.S. government's plans and annual plans do not propose such a huge shipbuilding plan. Therefore, in my opinion, the US Navy is not capable of implementing such a large-scale military expansion plan, which is just a "beautiful" idea for it to maintain hegemonism and compete for world maritime supremacy.
(Produced by Yangguang Military and China Military)