Department of the Navy Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Request

Name: Department of the Navy Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Request
Start: 2026-05-14
Location: US House of Representatives

Defense Posture and Global ThreatsHouse Armed Services · 2026-05-14 · 119th Congress

Transcript

Highlights

▶ 0:16:27Hi sir. All right, the committee will come to order. I want to welcome our witnesses and thank them for their service to our nation.

▶ 0:16:54Uh today, we'll hear from the Department of the Navy regarding FY27 budget request. As a maritime nation, our national security requires strong and ready naval force with sufficient vessels and capabilities to deter our enemies. That's especially true now as the Navy is instrumental to the mission of combating narot trafficking in the Western Hemisphere, ensuring Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon, and safeguarding freedom of navigation around the globe.

▶ 0:17:23And of course, we have to remain vigilant to the threat from China, whose maritime strength continues to grow. So, it's critical that American priorities growing America prioritizes growing our fleet. Uh and doing that requires rebuilding our ship building industry. Years of uncertainty and inconsistent demand from the government and the commercial sector have significantly weakened our maritime industrial base.

▶ 0:17:50That atrophy is apparent in both military and commercial ship building and the statistics are grim. China builds 47% of the world ships. The US builds onetenth of 1%. This decline in our maritime industrial base is not surprising given how long we have been underfunding our national Defense spending has shrunk dramatically both as a percentage of GDP and as a percentage of federal outlays.

▶ 0:18:18That res that's resulted in a reduction in our ship building capacity, our ability to scale our production and our fleet readiness. To maintain deterrence and ensure maritime dominance, uh we need a robust constellation of shipyards with modern infrastructure. It also demands a large skilled workforce capable of meeting the increased demand for ship building and repairing ships.

▶ 0:18:44The president's FY27 budget request of 1.5 trillion is crucial in reversing that decline. The Navy's topline of 377 bill.5 billion provides the resources necessary to restore our ship building capacity and reestablish our maritime We began the work of revitalizing the ship ship building uh last year via That legislation invested $34 billion in ship building and maritime industrial

▶ 0:19:15base to expand the size and enhance the capability of our naval fleet. We're starting to see the results of that funding and we'll be paying close attention to how the that investment is handled and how efficiently it's being Last year, we also made critical reforms to make the Pentagon a better customer for the defense industrial base. We created new accelerated requirements processes that rapidly seek innovative private sector solutions.

▶ 0:19:45We cut red tape and enhanced contracting flexibility and we streamlined decisionmaking by centralizing acquisition programs under single portfolio acquisition executives. I'm pleased to see the progress the Navy is making on implementing these reforms. However, I remain concerned with the overall readiness of our naval fleet.

▶ 0:20:06If we are to strengthen our deterrence and protect our maritime interest, we need to prioritize the 80% surge ready vision for the entire fleet, including our amphibious forces. Nearly half of the amphibious fleet is in unsatisfactory condition. As a result, we can no longer support heel-to-e deployments of our marine expeditionary forces. I'm a strong supporter of a continuous 3.0 MW uh presence.

▶ 0:20:34Our amphibious forces are the bedrock of our rapid response force and essential for the projection power that we need. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses on how we can work together to make sure these goals uh reach reality and give our sailors and marines the resources they need to defend our nation. With that, I yield to my friend, the ranking member for his opening statement.

▶ 0:20:57Uh thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate it. Thanks to our witnesses for being here today. I look forward to a very very important discussion. I think the chairman did a very good job of laying out the challenges that we face. Those challenges are not just um with the Navy and the Marine Corps and meeting our ship building, but it is a pretty good example of the size and scope of the challenges we face in meeting our national security needs and dealing with the economic challenges that we face as a country. Certainly, the ship building story that the chairman laid out is absolutely true.

▶ 0:21:26We have fallen way behind the rest of the world and really struggled uh to figure out how to build the ships we need to build for our defense needs. We also have the the modernization challenge. As we all know, warfare has fundamentally changed. Uh autonomous systems, AI are going to be crucial to meeting our war fighting needs, as is our ability to build the munitions and equipment that we need at a far greater scale, at a far more affordable pace. And some progress has been made.

▶ 0:21:55I particularly want to thank the Marine Corps. Um I know Commandant Burgerer who came before Commodant Smith really took the lead in recognizing this and took a hell of a lot of heat for saying no we have to change. He made the changes. I think the Marine Corps has adapted to what the modern battlefield looks like. And also you passed your which makes everybody around you Yeah. three times everyone around you jealous. But I think it should also make them aspirational um to do that as well.

▶ 0:22:24I also think on the Navy side, I've been particularly impressed with the workforce development. I've been up to Bath and I was just down at Newport News a few days ago. You know, three, four years ago, it really looked like, you know, we're just not going to be able to find the workforce and we still have a long way to go. We do not have enough enough people, but emphasizing training, bringing people into ship building has made a difference. We have a much younger workforce now in the ship building, and that certainly helps move move us forward.

▶ 0:22:51And also, as the chairman mentioned, our passage last year of acquisition reform to try to help the Pentagon get to the point where you can innovate faster at scale is making a difference. We have a long way to go there as well. I will point out, however, I do disagree with the chairman on one point. Yes, we are way behind on ship building, but it's not because we haven't spent enough money on defense.

▶ 0:23:12Where we are behind is on commercial ship building because we well we're behind on both to be honest but commercial ship building is the main area because we were no longer competitive in that space. The economy changed. We cannot spend our way out of this problem and that is my single biggest concern about the way we approach this. We are still trying to imagine that we can do everything if we just spend enough money. That I think is a very unwise strategy. We have a debt pushing up close to $40 trillion.

▶ 0:23:43We continue to not be able to support any sort of revenue increases to pay for it. We're going to have to get smarter. And I've used this quote in this room many, many times, so I apologize for repeating myself, but I think we are at that Winston Churchill point, gentlemen. We're out of money now. We have to think. The good news is we have really good options. We have very, very smart people.

▶ 0:24:07We have modern technology that can show us how to build the systems we need in a cheaper, more affordable way and put out a platform that enables us to achieve our objectives by taking advantage of having asymmetric advantages and figuring out what weapon systems we can have that can meet our needs. That's the way we need to be thinking. And we've discussed this, but all of what I've just said, the personification of the problem is the decision to go out and try to build a $22 billion battleship.

▶ 0:24:36I doubt seriously whether or not we can build that. I doubt even more seriously whether or not it is what we need at this point when we need to be focusing on autonomous systems on how we can do affordable solutions to what we face. If we continue to spend ourselves into oblivion, we will not accomplish the national security objectives that we desperately need. We also have partners and allies that we can use. And here I know all of you have discussed you agree with that. Uh but let's look at that as a way to grow our ability.

▶ 0:25:06Um South Korea, Japan, Norway, they are capable ship builders who at least this morning uh were still our allies. Um so we need to build on that, build the partners and allies that we can have to meet our needs. I still see a budget that I've been seeing here for 25 years, which is we have all these disastrous problems. Let's just imagine that we'll have an infinite amount amount of resources going forward and that's going to be our solution. that's not going to get us there.

▶ 0:25:33Um, we need to make cost-effective decisions to get us to the point where we need within a realistic budget framework. Uh, with that, I look forward to the discussion and I yield back. Thanking member. Now, I'll introduce our witnesses. Uh, the honorable Hunga is the acting secretary of the Navy. Admiral Daryl Codle is the chief of naval operations and General Eric Smith is the commonant of the Marine Corps. Welcome our witnesses. Secretary Cal, we'll start with you. You're recognized.

▶ 0:26:01Thank you, Chairman Rogers, uh, Ranking Member Smith, distinguished ladies and gentlemen of the House Armed Service Committee, thank you for allowing me to testify to you uh, this morning. American sailors and Marines are currently on the front lines of freedom in operations to protect our republic. Lincoln and Bush, I

▶ 0:26:18I think you your microphone's not on or you need to pull it closer.

▶ 0:26:21All right, let me try. Can Can we reset the time then, sir? No,

▶ 0:26:25we're good, sir. Uh, America's sailors and Marines are currently on the front lines of freedom in operations to protect our republic. Lincoln and Bush carrier strike groups and Tripoli amphibious ready group with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit are in the Arabian Sea protecting merchant ships and stopping illicit shipping by terrorist regime. Destroyers Arley Burke, Bokei, Oscar Austin, and Gonzalez are protecting our allies in Mediterranean against cruise missile attacks from Iran.

▶ 0:26:52In the Caribbean, Ewima Argmu is stopping narot terrorists from poisoning our Americans with illegal drugs. In the Pacific, Boxer Argu and Destroyer Squadron 7 are enforcing the freedom of navigation to South China Sea. At home, we're preparing Mon Island Argu, USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, a 49-year-old nuclearpowered aircraft carrier for deployment. On our southern border, our sailors marines stand watch tonight, saying, "Nothing will hurt you. Not on my watch.

▶ 0:27:22Three weeks and about 17 hours ago, I was tasked by President Trump to lead the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. My three priorities are to take care of sailors, Marines, build ships, and protect our homeland. 120 years ago, the Great White Fleet extended America's reach across the globe. We're currently at the forefront of history with a budget that will create the Golden Fleet, which renews that maritime dominance.

▶ 0:27:49We have the obligation to give our sailors Marines the very best equipment to do their jobs. In our historic budget of 377.5 billion, we're adding 34 new ships varying from small to large combatants, 123 new aircrafts along with five unmanned ships. In five years, we will add 122 manned and 63 unmanned We are funding our readiness of our fleet to 95%.

▶ 0:28:17We're procuring exquisite munitions that will keep our forces outside the weapons engagement zone while investing in research development for the fight of the future. More importantly, we are increasing our service member pays, investing in family and unaccompanied housing, child development centers so that our sailors and marines have safe, clean, and comfortable places to live and not have to worry about their families when they're deployed in harm's way.

▶ 0:28:43We have greatly exceeded recruiting and retention goals, and that is due solely to the sheer leadership of President Trump and Secretary Hegsth. Last week, I was on board USS Gerald R. Ford, USS Winston Churchill, and USS Banebridge as a return from an 11-month combat deployment in two theaters. Do not believe the fake news that claims food shortages, backed up toilets, and low morale.

▶ 0:29:07What I witnessed were motivated and professional young sailors pushing the boundaries of performance for their country. It is imperative that we pass this budget. Ship construction and readiness were bill pairs for Iraq and Afghanistan for 20 years. While our industrial base atrophied peer competitors grew stronger and threatened our sovereignty, their 100red-year plan had one goal, total global domination. But only one thing stands in their way.

▶ 0:29:36The United States of America. The Navy and Marine Corps are America's 911 force, capable of being anywhere as a carrier strike group or Marine Airground task force with overwhelming firepower, as we saw in absolute resolve and epic fury. A year ago, I testified in my confirmation hearing that I would create the most lethal Navy Marine Corps team the world has ever seen. I will keep that promise, having worn the cloth of our nation for 32 years, most of which was in combat.

▶ 0:30:07I do this also because I will not allow my oldest son, who will be commissioned a week from tomorrow as a second lieutenant, United States Marine Corps, to go to war the way I did without the equipment that we needed. I will not allow this for any of America's sons or daughters. They signed a blank check to this nation up to and including their lives. And we owe to them to do our due diligence to fund this historic budget that will care for them and their families while giving them the tools to answer the call.

▶ 0:30:35I have seen firsthand what communism and authoritarian regime regimes have done to thriving nations. Members of my family were murdered by communists in 1975. We had no place to go. We had no FL flag to stand under or a country call our own. But this place called the United States gave us hope and a home and a future.

▶ 0:30:56I've dedicated my entire adult life to defend this nation under God so that this would never happen to my children, your children, or our Thank you again for this opportunity to testify before you. Before I end though, this is uh Admiral Muez, my uh chief of legislative affairs last uh hearing before you and I want to thank him for his service and uh thank you for your time, Chairman. Again, I know your time is very important. If you want to cut this down to less than five hours, I think we're we're ready to support you.

▶ 0:31:27Thank you so much.

▶ 0:31:28Thank you. Uh and I'm I'm proud that you have a very strong voice, and I apologize that we're having audio problems with your microphone. Uh we're working on that. Admiral Codle, you're Chairman Rogers, Ranking Member Smith, and distinguished members of the committee, good morning and thank you for the opportunity to testify on the posture of the United States Navy. I'm honored to be joined by acting Secretary of the Navy Cal, and my good friend General Eric Smith.

▶ 0:31:56We appreciate the committee steadfast support for our sailors, our Marines, our civilian workforce, and their families as well for the resources you provide to defend our nation. This past year, our Navy celebrated 250 years of American sea power.

▶ 0:32:12Today, our founding fathers would scarcely recognize the modern fleet, ballistic missile submarines deterring strategic attack, nuclearpowered aircraft carriers projecting power across the globe and an all domain naval force delivering precision lethality at And while the platforms have changed, one truth has not. The sailor remains our most and greatest competitive advantage and the heartbeat of our fleet.

▶ 0:32:40This July, on our nation's 250th birthday, our sailors will carry that legacy forward wherever our nation requires presence, power, and resolve. Since assuming the duties of the Chief of Naval Operations, I have been focused on one central objective, ensuring the Navy never loses its differentiated value.

▶ 0:33:01In February, we released the United States Navy fighting instructions, which is designed to operationalize my priorities of foundry, fleet, and the way we fight and provide clear guidance on we will build, generate, and employ Navy combat power for the conflicts we must be prepared to win. These instructions reflect a simple reality.

▶ 0:33:23The Navy's value lies in our ability to generate decisive combat power from the sea with tailorable formations, sustain them forward, and deliver lethal effects across every domain at the time and place of our choosing globally. Operation Epic Fury is providing in real time what the Navy delivers.

▶ 0:33:43forward, persistent combat power from the sea, sovereign options, independent of basing, survivable and resilient under pressure, and able to strike decisively. That is our differentiated value on full display. To preserve that advantage, we are executing a hedge strategy to ensure the fleet will build today, it's ready for the fight we face now, and adaptable and scalable to the one we will face tomorrow. That strategy is realized through the Golden Fleet Initiative.

▶ 0:34:13A fleet design that blends high and lowerend combatants, integrates robotic and autonomous systems, and enables scalable formations to outpace emerging threats. This approach increases our ability to scale combat mass, distribute risk, and maintain escalation dominance against the operational challenges our combatant commanders face globally.

▶ 0:34:36It also requires integrating technologies like artificial intelligence, advance advanced manufacturing, directed energy, and containerized systems as operational capabilities that expand our reach, persistence, and lethality across our kill chains and kills. Our FY27 budget request is strategy driven.

▶ 0:34:56It's aligned to the Department of the Navy's priorities and the objectives of the National Defense Strategy, leveraging the concepts outlined in the United States Navy fighting instructions to ensure our investments directly strengthen the foundry, the fleet, and the way we fight. It reflects disciplined choices to ensure we first always build a credible and highly effective sea-based strategic deterrent and second we invest in the right capabilities that preserve our war fighting advantage. To do that, we focus on four priorities.

▶ 0:35:27First, sailors first. Quality of service is not a luxury. It underwrites combat readiness and must always be our first priority. Second, the foundry. The foundry is where combat power is forged and we must not use it as a billpayer. A hollow foundry results in a hollow navy. Third, the fleet. Our fleet is the most decisive and flexible military instrument of national power.

▶ 0:35:50Therefore, we must fill the right mix of forces to realize the gold fleet's full potential through a smart application of the head strategy. And fourth, the fight winning will depend on the strength and adaptability of our kill chains and kill webs. From robust counter targeting to leveraging new stealth technologies to an abundance of longer range munitions to enhanced mission command, we must integrate and synchronize our capabilities seamlessly with our joint force teammates, our partners, and our allies.

▶ 0:36:20It is truly the honor of my life to serve as your chief of naval operations. With your continued partnership, we will ensure the United States Navy remains the most capable, most ready, and most lethal maritime force in the world. And I look forward to your questions. Thank you.

▶ 0:36:35Thank you, Admiral General Smith. You're

▶ 0:36:40Well, good morning, Chairman Rogers, Ranking Member Smith, ladies and gentlemen. I'm honored to appear before you today alongside acting secretary cow and admiral coddle to represent your Marine Corps. I'd like to start by recognizing the significance of this year's president's budget. It is a generational investment that supports the Marine Corps's top four focus areas. One, restoring a 3.0 amphibious ready group Marine Expeditionary Unit presence.

▶ 0:37:06One argued expeditionary unit episodically deployed out of Okinawa, Japan. two, setting the theater, three, accelerating modernization and lethality, and four, building and sustaining a lethal force. Restoring a 3.0 amphibious ready group Marine Expeditionary Unit presence is the Marine Corps's northstar. It consists of three continuously forward deployed amphibious ready group marine expeditionary unit teams.

▶ 0:37:34Again, one source from the east coast, one from the west coast, and one episodically deployed out of Okinawa, Japan. each embarked on three amphibious warships, one big deck and two small The amphibious ready group or ARG with the Marine Expeditionary Unit is the most agile and responsive formation of the joint force. Hands down. It is how our nation's leaders sustain forward posture, deter aggression, and respond to crisis or conflict across the entire globe.

▶ 0:38:02Today, we have 3.0 amphibious Ready Group Marine Expeditionary Unit presence. It is a strategic value and that strategic value is clear. The 22nd MU is combating naroterrorism in the Caribbean while the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit and the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit are providing operational flexibility to maintain security and stability in the Middle East and the Indo-acific. But this is not something we can sustain. We need to enhance our amphibious warship readiness and increase the size of our amphibious force.

▶ 0:38:31I want to extend my sincere appreciation to the Secretary of War, the acting secretary of the Navy, and my shipmate Daryl Codddle for their unwavering support towards our shared goal of restoring a 3.0 amphibious Ready Group Marine Expeditionary Unit presence. Our second focus area is setting the theater. We're committed to protecting our interests, deterring adversaries, reassuring allies, and creating a more agile and resilient global sustainment network, one that seamlessly integrates with the joint force.

▶ 0:39:00To achieve this, we're ensuring an optimized force posture while also investing in latoral mobility, pre-positioned equipment and supplies, digital manufacturing, and enhanced installation resilience. We're refining our approach to logistics, prioritizing resilience, speed, and adaptability to generate and sustain our forces. Our third area of focus is accelerating modernization, and lethality. Force design underpins everything that we do.

▶ 0:39:29We remain committed to modernizing everything from our marine expeditionary units to our marine expeditionary forces, focusing on precision fires, air defense, unmanned systems, resilient command and control, and electromagnetic warfare. We're gaining momentum, but we have to accelerate to ensure that our Marines are most lethal, survivable, and resilient the day before a conflict starts. And finally, we're building and sustaining a lethal force.

▶ 0:39:55The quality of life of Marines and their families directly impacts readiness, retention, and lethality. We are deliberately investing in Marines and their families to improve living conditions, institutionalize Marine Corps total fitness, and ensure support for family Before I close, I want to take a moment to recognize the members of this committee and other committees with jurisdiction over the national defense who will be retiring. On behalf of all Marines, thank you for your service to this nation.

▶ 0:40:23We know it it comes at great personal cost. Thank you for your leadership, but most of all for your partnership. Your constant and steadfast support has ensured the readiness of your Marine Corps. We wish you the best in the next chapter of your service. As we say, fair winds and following seas. I'd like to close by stating that your Marines are ready.

▶ 0:40:44The Marine Corps is a globally responsive, lethal, combined arms naval expeditionary force that is capable of projecting power from sea to land and from land to sea and to maneuver across multiple domains in contested environments to deter, deny and defeat our adversaries. Thank you again for your trust and support and I look forward to your questions.

▶ 0:41:06Thank you, General. I recognize myself for questions first. Uh we all know that a continuous strong demand signal is critical to getting our ship building uh industrial base back on a healthy footing. Mr. Secretary, can you tell us how you're ensuring that fleet uh requirements and fleet and the acceleration of production rates is happening in the ship building industry?

▶ 0:41:29Mr. Chairman, we have we have many levers we're pulling. Obviously, the SCAP program allows us to invest into our industrial base. Uh we we have for for example for submarine building a very talented officer uh Vice Admiral Rob Goucher who I've known for 36 years who is leading and basically moving the submarine construction to the left. But again we we need to explore every single avenue of ship construction in this country. It's not just about warships.

▶ 0:41:58Right now there's only 188 flagged US merchant ships and 105 military seal of commands ships whereas the Chinese have 11,000 ships. We are a maritime nation bordering both the Pacific and the the Atlantic. We depend on that that maritime dominance to to for our trade and for the good of our nation as well. And so this if we pull all the levers we're looking at 540,000 jobs in the United States for ship building alone. And that's for every single one of your districts.

▶ 0:42:29And this is why we need to to to fund this bill, sir, so we can get ship building going and get this nation

▶ 0:42:35Um, Admiral Codle, um, what operational impacts will you feel if Congress doesn't pass supplemental funding, and when do you think you'll start feeling those impacts,

▶ 0:42:46sir? Um, as you know, the FY26 budget didn't bake in Epic Fury. And uh and we're you know the Navy if you see any news channel and you look at the graphic there you see a large Navy force in the Middle East. So we're burning bright and that's what navies do and we're built that way but it does come at cost and it comes at operational costs.

▶ 0:43:07Things like fuel cost operating hours you know uh uh training airframes uh and all the sorts of incremental things munitions that you actually spend during wartime. And so uh without supplemental funding, I do fear that I'll have to start making decisions in the July time frame on how I do force generation.

▶ 0:43:27That could make differences between how I do exercises, how I do do routine operations in order to make sure that I do not, you know, have the funds necessary to continue the war effort for Epic Fury. A bigger piece too that I would tell you is is in people. You know, I'm incurring additional costs in the manpower accounts as well. And so, uh, without additional funding, I'm going to end up having to hold on station a number between 12 and 15,000 new assessions that I'm trying to push through.

▶ 0:43:57So, my record recruiting is going to be thwarted without additional funding to PCS those individuals from boot camp and to pay enlistment and reinlistment bonuses. So, those efforts could be challenged if I don't get additional supplemental funding. Sir,

▶ 0:44:11on another point, Admiral, what steps have you taken u fleetwide to improve your maintenance outcomes and improve your readiness rates?

▶ 0:44:20Well, I think the secretary landed most of it. You know, this has been a a fullcourt press effort to expand our maritime industrial base and certainly the submarine industrial base. I think the acquisition reform is putting with the Derpam and and other PAE structural changes to put more accountability accountability at our supervisors of ship buildings to be more intrusive oversight while construction's going on.

▶ 0:44:43The idea of developing no kidding getting the US to no kidding build ships through a modular distributed type of uh framework. We're doing that to some extent with Virginia class and Arley Burke but we need to expand that. We need better integration of artificial intelligence. We need better integration of robotics to do more welds robotically for higher output and re uh reproducing higher quality. We've got workforce talent management going on across the country.

▶ 0:45:12But uh we need more of that as well to make sure we recruit and retain and lower the attrition of our key workforce. And that's not just you know kind of wage grade and vocational. This is middle level engineer management is coming out of engineering STEM schools that I desperately need for pro for doing the planning and oversight of the work. And then I'd say that's a I'd say most of the things we got going on. Sir,

▶ 0:45:36great. With that, I'll yield to the ranking member.

▶ 0:45:39Thank you very much. Building off the theme of the opening statement in terms of, you know, how can we get to more cost effective solutions? I've been very impressed by the fact that when it comes like shooting down drones, we've invented some new systems. We were shooting them down with two $3 million missiles. Um L3 Harris has come up with the Vampire system that's $30,000 a shot. Very effective. Another private company came up with Mirops. By the way, I think Vampire is a much better name than Mirops if you're going to name a system.

▶ 0:46:07Just for those paying attention to those things, $15,000 a shot. And it was all about figuring out, okay, we have our needs. How do we meet them in a very costeffective way? what is the equivalent in the Navy and Marine Corps in terms of how you're thinking about meeting your needs um in a more cost-effective way. And that's one of the many things that troubles me again about the battleship. We look at new technology, new ways to deal things, all these demands, asymmetric advantages, and we come up, we say, you know what, we're going to go with a massive 22 billion solution.

▶ 0:46:37That seems to be the exact opposite of taking advantage of modern technology to meet your needs in a more costeffective way. So, how are you all thinking about options equivalent to instead of 2 million, we're going to do 30,000 and achieve the same objective and using new technology to get there?

▶ 0:46:55Ranking member, you're absolutely right, sir. I mean, we're when we're launching an SM2 missile that cost 2 and a4 million per shot to take down a thousand drone. It's ridiculous. And that's why electronic warfare is so important. I mean, we need to cover everything from 30 meghertz to 8 gigahertz with no band brakes in between, but also we need static radar to look at it, but also gimbals because a lot of their cross-section the radar cross-sections of these drones look very similar to our aircrafts as well. So, there's many options out there and you mentioned like a large ship.

▶ 0:47:25Well, there's as far as I was in the Navy even all the way back to 2011 when I worked in OBNAV N96, the surface warfare division, we had a requirement for large combatants. It's called CGX at the time because

▶ 0:47:38we got a lot of requirements. Mr. Secretary, what one of the things that I would suggest that we're going to need to do is get out of the requirements-based approach. I mean, so much that goes on at the Pentagon, and I think the chairman agreed, is we all sit around and come up with requirements, okay? And there's ash tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of pages of them. Let's focus on what actually needs to be done instead of, well, we got a requirement for it. Um, we got to think through it a little bit more than that. Sorry to interrupt.

▶ 0:48:07Just had to make that point. Go ahead.

▶ 0:48:11Thank you for that. Uh, ranking member, again, there's, again, I I I pay bills at home and there's, you know, the kids need braces, they need everything, and that's we have to balance all those things. But again, with the the battleship, the problem is that your your DDGs are so decked out right now. The Pinkney, USS Pinkney is the only ship in our fleet that has a Slick 32 Victor 7 for electronic warfare.

▶ 0:48:34And and I mean I I told you yesterday I mean it looks like a big chipmunk with a mouthful of nuts right now because it's it's so over burdened. And that's why we need a large combatant that has all electronic warfare as well as 200 VLS cells including conventional prompt strike. Imagine a missile that can go from here to the the west coast in 16 minutes uh that the enemy can't stop. And this is what's going to deter the enemy. Uh meanwhile we need to also invest into our our shipyards.

▶ 0:49:01We need to invest into our electronic warfare and as well as our sailors and marines as well. And this is why it the job of balancing the budget is so difficult. And uh Sure. Again, I want to read I'm sorry. Sorry. Go ahead.

▶ 0:49:11Yeah. One one other qu question on that. Um there are a lot of different companies now making autonomous ships. They're really and and yes, the autonomous aspect is important, but they're also looking at new ways to do ship building in general. Um how can we do it more rapidly, uh more cost-effectively? they seem to have made a lot of progress. What are the principal lessons that have been learned from that that regardless of what we're building, whether it's a battleship, an aircraft carrier, or something smaller, that we could do it more quickly and more cost-effectively.

▶ 0:49:42Do you and I both Admiral and Mr. Secretary, if you can

▶ 0:49:45Well, again, uh I'll turn Admiral Codle in a second, but it's just about uh using AI so we can streamline our processes as well as adding manufacturing. Admiral Codle,

▶ 0:49:56you know, sir, I would say when we were upside down, as the secretary is talking about on on kills, you know, cost per kill with SM2, SM6, we filled it and and rallied very quickly during Red Sea Operations Rough Rider to actually get on board our strike groups, Roadrunner, Coyote, and Hellfire, instantiations of that to really turn that very quickly.

▶ 0:50:18That took collaboration from our surface warfare and mine development center from surf lant from dogrren and of course nav war to get those ttps bake that in get it certified and every striker has deployed with that it's much more effective and that learning happened very quickly directed energy of course is part of that electronic warfare some of the things that you know in in the

▶ 0:50:39I'm out of time I apologize for that I don't I don't want to take take too much time but those are exactly the types of answers that I think we need more of I yield back thank you Mr. chairman.

▶ 0:50:48Thank you. Mr. Turner is recognized.

▶ 0:50:50Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Secretary, I am the co-chair of over here. I am the I am the co-chair of the Congressional Military Sexual Assault Prevention Caucus. Several of us have received information of a change in the Navy policy concerning how investigations of reports of sexual harassment are handled. Um, I'm going to submit to you uh a letter requesting written answers to concerns about uh those changes.

▶ 0:51:16I ask unanimous consent to submit this for the record and then thank you and then ask for your uh written responses to

▶ 0:51:24Um Mr. Secretary, right Patterson Air Force Base is in my district and it is home to the 71th human performance wing. It is also home to the Naval Medical Research Unit Dayton. uh it is the site w as where those two come together as a joint center of excellence for aerospace medical research that was established in 2005.

▶ 0:51:48It's a place where the air force and the navy are supposed to come together uh conducting aerospace medicine research for the purposes of advancing human performance in aerospace. Unfortunately, the naval medical research unit in Dayton has been neglected. In 2022, a study from the US Army Corps of Engineers identified that this medical unit was in desperate need of just basic maintenance.

▶ 0:52:15Um, and uh, it continues to struggle for funding in basic infrastructure improvements. As a result of that, I put a request in the in last year's NDAA uh for the Navy to respond to how is the Navy going to respond to this report from that has yet to be u answered.

▶ 0:52:37That report in the NDAA had a deadline of of this year of March 31st, which was missed this year. Uh so the Navy hasn't even responded to the request to respond to the lack of responding to the Army Corps of Engineers response which was 2022. Um we're missing the opportunity for the uh Navy and the Air Force to work together in aerospace medicine research which again is supposed to advance human performance in in aerospace.

▶ 0:53:08Mr. Secretary, I'd ask you, are you aware of this missed opportunity? And um you can we remedy this this opportunity so that we can advance obviously this this incredible opportunity to advance human performance in aerospace.

▶ 0:53:22Congressman, I I apologize. I I was not aware of this, but you know, this is the problem when we have a lot of these uh you know, units attached to air force bases. I had the problem in Tinker Air Force Base 2 where we had a large number of suicides and that I've I've gone there personally and I've I've h made a lot of headway in order to to curtail the suicide rates at Tinker Air Force Base. But for for Wright Patterson Air Force Base, human forest is so important. We have to treat every sailor and marine like a weapon systems. We need to take care of them.

▶ 0:53:52That's whether it's through human performance or or medical treatment or even mental health. We will do that. So, you have my word that I will uh not only look into this, respond quickly, but also come come visit you, sir. And in response to your the uh sexual assault and sexual harassment, we we are going to investigate every single issue with with license and or trained uh investigators and we will respond to that that request as well.

▶ 0:54:20And uh again, I I have five children, three daughters. I will not allow this to happen.

▶ 0:54:25I look forward to your response to both. Thank you.

▶ 0:54:29Uh gentleman from California, Mr. Gar

▶ 0:54:33Uh thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh Mr. Chairman, uh you and uh ranking members Smith as well as the secretary spoke to the issue of the commercial uh fleet that America does not have. Uh draw to your attention, there is a piece of legislation called the ships act that deals directly with that. uh I bring that to the attention of the committee and perhaps that could be an integral part of our work as we form up the NDAA.

▶ 0:55:00Um rather important in meeting all of the requirements that we have. So I'll let it go at that. Thank you for bringing the issue up and I'll drive it forward. Um I have two questions here. Uh Admiral Codle, the West Coast of the United States, I believe borders on the Pacific. The Pacific is going to be has been and will continue to be a major theater with enormous um challenges.

▶ 0:55:28Do we have sufficient facilities on the west coast of the United States to meet the needs of the Navy as it looks to its larger fleet and to the challenges of the Pacific? Congressman, uh, we do not have sufficient facilities in general and I would argue that we do not sufficient on the West Coast as our theater of importance and our priority of how we've split the the Navy.

▶ 0:55:53Our 6040 split predicates that to prevent transits through the Panama Canal or other ways we would get around to the east coast. the more options I have as the CNO for parach without those transits to east coast public yards, the way I can, you know, have a fair share of those yards and keep them level loaded improves quality of life for people if they can stay on the coast and not such large uh PCS moves and just improves combat and damage control that I can do when I actually need a repair and in that capacity.

▶ 0:56:22So we are tasked in this budget to go look hard at a fifth shipyard and that that study is you know we will take a lot of time and understand that very clearly where to lay down that capacity but I would to your answer your question bluntly no I do not have sufficient capacity. I look forward to working with you on developing opportunities on the west coast for the uh need of the Navy for its ship repair and perhaps also for the uh development of additional fleet.

▶ 0:56:53Uh I want to go to General Smith. Uh you spoke in your um opening testimony about the uh amphibious ready groups and the What do you need to carry out your plan? Do you have sufficient ships, amphibs, large and not so large? Uh, and what is the plan to develop? What is your plan and what is your need to develop the necessary fleet for the Marine Corps?

▶ 0:57:24Well, sir, thanks for that question. So, our requirement is a 3.0 ARM MW. Again, one off the east coast, one off the west coast, and one episodically deployed out of Okinawa, Japan. We're currently required to have a minimum of 31 amphibious warfare ships, but that was predicated on 80% readiness, and we're we're well short of 80% readiness uh in in the Amphib fleet. We're closer to uh to 50%. So, we're going to need more ships.

▶ 0:57:47Um I I defer to my shipmate Daryl Codle on on exactly how many ships are going to be required to maintain that 3.0 Army presence, but my requirement is a 3.0 Army presence regard the number of ships that are available. So those would be the large amphibs and the medium.

▶ 0:58:04Yes sir. LHAs, LHDs and then LP LPDS.

▶ 0:58:09Uh is are they presently in the planning that the Navy is putting forth?

▶ 0:58:17Again I will I will defer to the secretary and to the CNO on that. Sir,

▶ 0:58:21let's move to the secretary.

▶ 0:58:22Yes. Well, sir, I just can tell you we have an LH LPD and and LSM's in the So both of the all three of those ships are in the budget of sufficient number to meet the needs of the Marine Corps.

▶ 0:58:37Yes, Congress.

▶ 0:58:39Very good. Um with that, I will yield back. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

▶ 0:58:45Gentleman yields back. Chair recognize gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Whitman.

▶ 0:58:48Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to thank our witnesses for joining us today. Secretary Cow, Admiral Codle, General Smith, thanks so much for the incredible job that you do. Secretary Cow, I want to start with you. Uh yesterday at the House Subcommittee on Appropriations for Defense, you talked about nuclear power generation, specifically onshore nuclear power generation. We all know our nuclear navy is is the best ever in the history of humankind and how it utilizes nuclear energy to power our ships.

▶ 0:59:15That 70 years of record with naval reactors is beyond uh beyond reproach. What I want to look at is how are we taking that technology and then applying it in different ways. And I got language in last year's National Defense Authorization Act that directed pilot projects on Navy bases to actually do onshore nuclear power generation with small modular reactors and to do that in a way where we can pair that with data centers.

▶ 0:59:42Listen, the the future of what we need to make sure we win the race in AI is going to center around data. You want to have your power generation sources close to where your data centers are, the power demand. There's a need for the military for for that power gen to have organic capabilities on a base to make sure we're not at peril with the the larger grid if somebody tries to take it out. And then making sure we have our own organic capability with the data that we need for that. All those things make sense.

▶ 1:00:09They're also in align with what's happening uh externally with other efforts to generate more power uh to to respond to this nation's increased energy needs and making sure that we're doing data center development in a very responsible way and I argue the nation and the navy and the military benefits from that.

▶ 1:00:28Give me your perspective on how you think we can aggressively pursue this to as quickly as we can get these SMRs permitted and under construction on Navy bases, how we can look for partners in the data uh data center realm to put those on military bases or on Navy bases and how you would look at executing

▶ 1:00:48Thank you, Congressman. This summer, uh Norfol Naval Base is going to be powered from an aircraft carrier. We're going to export the energy from the aircraft carrier to the base. But imagine having this this power generation from within the base that we can even export the energy to the surrounding area work use that as a working capital fund to now actually fix our bases and the energy that's produced from these.

▶ 1:01:13We can power also or you know use it for four stage distiller making water fresh pot of water. I mean on a carrier we're pumping millions of gallons over the side every day of fresh potable water that tests at pH7 right that that we can now export in places like California where you have a drought you can actually export that energy that water to to uh to put the in the um the the surrounding area.

▶ 1:01:39Now the president has named the army which breaks my heart as the executive agent for shorebased thing. This is as a matter of honor. We are the nuclear navy. So I I do want to turn over to Admiral Codle who who is more uh in tune of of nuclear power than I can ever be.

▶ 1:01:56Congressman, you know what one thing we need is a champion. Okay. You're you're doing that over here, but we've got to have an overall programmatic champion for the SMR program. So I think we're dithering a bit there and not really kind of landing on, you know, the pilot and laying out the program of record. Yes.

▶ 1:02:11So I you know while the army may be you know tapped to be the overall lead for it I see no world in which the Navy is not going to be part of that discussion and bring our expertise through our longest established naval reactors deep understanding of reactor physics and understanding safe operation but we need to get a pilot established and a target date and get one going.

▶ 1:02:28Yeah, thank you. And we we will be laser focused on that again this year in the National Defense Authorization Act. I wanted to to follow on with that on a ship building issue. Um there's $1.85 $85 billion in this year's president's budget and the request for advanced ship building industrial base and future ship experimental essentially looking at the proposal of taking foreign designs and then putting those in place for our ship building. Um I just have a question about that.

▶ 1:02:58I have a hesitation about that because we tried that with Frimm with an Italian design and we took an Italian design and we said okay it's 85% complete and then made adjustments to it and all of a sudden it only became 15% complete on design and today we have two constellation class ships and that will be it. We will cancel the rest of the program.

▶ 1:03:16So I guess my question is is how do you see this going forward and how are we going to uh reconcile the effort to say let's grow the industrial base let's grow ship building in the United States and on the other hand say that we're going to now look at foreign ship designs in how we're going to build and sustain a US ship building industrial base for our US Navy. Well, you know, uh, there are a lot of lessons we learned from consolation.

▶ 1:03:46This can be done, right? I think the icebreaker program is an example of where, you know, this

▶ 1:03:50gentleman's time's expired. Chair now recognizes a gentleman from New Jersey, Mr. Norcross.

▶ 1:03:54Thank you, chairman. I'd like to thank the witnesses for being here today. Uh, we're focusing on our ship ship building capacity for good reason.

▶ 1:04:03U, it's not working. It's getting better. Back when Pearl Harbor happened in 1941, our ship building capacity was in shambles. Within two years, President Roosevelt brought those leaders of the great industrial companies in this America, and within two years, we're pumping out one ship a week plus. We got behind it. We know we got into this problem by disinvesting in our own industrial base.

▶ 1:04:32That's why back in 21 we put a byamerican act to step up the percentage of Americanmade products in our ship building. Back in 24 the minds act expanded on that to say you're going to from 65 to 75 and eventually 85%. Well, a we put that in it's law.

▶ 1:04:56We have not received one report from the repository we created to say how much of our industrial base starts and is made here in the United States. We're repeating the problems that's got us into it.

▶ 1:05:09Yet this year's ship building plan states that strategy for growing the industrial base, the expansion of industrial brace through direct foreign that the plan's contents of the table content an entire section dedicated to foreign investment and support. This is contrary to those last two pieces we put in the NDA.

▶ 1:05:35And time after time people in your position says we have to build our industrial base yet we haven't goes on at the same time the acting secretary of the navy the entire plan was about restoring maritime industrial strength. Secretary you stated it five minutes ago. So here we are. We know the plan that we need to do is to invest in ourselves like we've done once before.

▶ 1:06:02Yet the ship building plans goes the exact opposite direction and says, "How do we get foreign investment?" This is what got us here. Do you need a little boost in the beginning? Potentially. We're not saying that's not the way to do it, but the idea of foreign got us into this problem, the offshoring of our industrial base. So, Mr. Secretary, how do you square these

▶ 1:06:28Congressman, thank you for that question. We're not investing in foreign ship building. What we're doing is seeing what their these these models work, whether they will work in our fleet and then they will bring that to the United States. Some of these foreign ship builders are cranking out destroyers at a rate of one every two years where it's taken six to eight

▶ 1:06:48Just give me a moment. Page 17 of that plan potentially from overseas shipyards along with the fuel tankers. and that acknowledgement, this work may be performed from the outside of the United States. So if what you're saying is true, you have to change that saying we're not going to get these made outside of the United States.

▶ 1:07:08Again, we're we're also bringing our workers over there to learn their techniques, sir, because we're just not doing it fast enough over here. We're It's one of those things where, you know, they they they use a lot of AI to to uh map out their their workload every day so that we're not wasting time on on just paperwork. 40% of our our time at the at our shipyards are spent doing just paperwork on on literally a clipboard and an Excel spreadsheet instead of doing it.

▶ 1:07:36So, invest in the United States. So, we don't do this. The idea that you've opened up the door here, contrary to what we've been saying for foreign investment on their side of the water, completely different than what we talked about in this committee, what you talked about. I have no problem sending people over to learn it better. No problem. But the idea that somehow it's because we didn't learn how to do it better. No, we didn't make the investment.

▶ 1:08:03So, please, I want to hear from Admiral and from you that you're not going to build these ships overseas. You're going to build it here in the United States where our industrial base needs to grow.

▶ 1:08:15We we have to push every lever, Congressman, to to make this work. I mean, it's like going honestly, it's like going to a candy machine. Your Snickers bars get stuck. You know, you can do two things. You can call that number 800 number and no one's going to respond. You're not going to get your money back. You can put more money in, but that's not going to work. You can shake the machine. It's just not going to get or you can go, you know, next door to the the the other can machine and get it. That's what we're trying to do, sir.

▶ 1:08:38We're trying to make sure that we we we are in in invigorating the the uh industrial base and energizing them.

▶ 1:08:47Thank you. I appreciate your speaking directly to this, but the fact of the matter is we're not investing here in America to the point that we need. Thank you. I yield back.

▶ 1:08:56Gentlemen's time expired. Chair and I recognize gentleman from Tennessee, Dr. Dejar Lee.

▶ 1:09:00Thank you, chairman, and thank our witnesses for being here today. Uh Mr. Whitman started the subject and and Mr. Norcross uh continued it. I had a question for Secretary uh Cow. In your opening statement, you mentioned how the department has been focusing on expanded distributed uh distributed ship building efforts. Uh can you expand what those efforts will look like in a practical sense and how foreign ship building efforts will impact domestic shipyard production?

▶ 1:09:28And just as an aside, uh yesterday I met with South Korean Ambassador Kang in my office who was uh offering ship building uh capabilities in South Korea and what other allies of ours around the world can help us fill the gap while we're trying to rebuild Americans uh ship building capacity.

▶ 1:09:49Thank you, Congressman. We're trying to, like I said, energize our industrial base here. think some of our primes have gotten very comfortable uh with the way they're they're doing things, cranking out ships at six to eight years. I mean, we're better than this. We're Americans. We can do a lot better than this. And sometimes it just takes a little competition to to to get us going.

▶ 1:10:10And this is where we're we're bringing in foreign foreign ship builders to say, you know what, let's bring our our American workers over there, see how they build things and bring it back over in uh and and industrialize our our really our our capacity. Along along with that, we are looking in a few weeks, I'm hoping we will be able to announce to you guys some of the things we're going to build in America. That's uh you know, it's being worked on right now as we speak by by the Deputy Secretary of War.

▶ 1:10:38And so I I'd love to come in basically 24 hours before we announce these things to inform you how we're going to do that. But let me turn over to Admiral Codle and so he can talk about the SCIA program that his his officers are working on.

▶ 1:10:51Well, I've been tackling this for the last six years from sub force commander to the fleet forces commander to CNO and uh to some extent the secretary's got it right. It's been pushing a rope on getting the improvements we need to see. I live in a real threat-based world and threat-based analysis means I actually have to have no kidding ships. And while I love everything to be built in the United States, we do have to expand the aperture.

▶ 1:11:16This budget to be executed, we'll have to expand the industrial base and actually go in a smart way, in an optimized way, lay down that ship demand signal across the different yards that can actually go produce this in an effective way. In my world view, that will actually require some foreign shipyards to actually help me do that to actually deliver the actual ships I need in a time frame when that's important. And so, uh, I think it's an all hands on deck and execute this budget at the size and scale that's going to take that

▶ 1:11:47Okay. And Admiral Codle, staying with you, let's go underwater. The Navy had a plan to potentially extend the service lives of several Ohio class submarines known as uh Pyra to ensure seabbased deterrence requirements continue to be met during the transition from Ohio to Colombia. My understanding is this plan continues to evolve and the Navy is now looking at a smaller life extensions for greater numbers of Ohio class submarines.

▶ 1:12:12Can you update us on the current approach and the importance of ensuring at sea deterrence requirements continue to be as we transition from the Ohio to the Colombia?

▶ 1:12:20Sir, there will be no chinks in the armor of deliver delivering a credible, safe and effective sea-based deterrent. It underwrites every single thing we do from continuity of government to continuity decision-m to continuity of operations. We will actually feel that in accordance with US strategic command requirements. So to make sure that happens, I am making sure that as Colombia comes online that I have a what I would call a make before break transition between Colombia as we sunset the Ohio class which has served so well to do that.

▶ 1:12:50We will extend some Ohio class to give us the breathing room necessary for that transition. And so that's our plan of record for that. The total number of that is still being refined, but you can look at a number between four and five Ohio class to actually make that transition effective and we will extend them through the pyro uh availabilities of you as you have

▶ 1:13:11Okay. Thank you. And uh Secretary Cow, we've only got 47 seconds, but we know we've had some setbacks in both the conventional promp uh prompt strike programs, Army's landbased, longrange hypersonic weapons, and due to the previous test failures involving Army launchers and all up round both CPS and LRHW have undergone a plan. Can you speak to the progress of the plan and how Congress can work to support the advancement of the hypersonic mission in 20 seconds?

▶ 1:13:39Uh, Congressman, I I worked on moving the conference prom strike from AT&L OSD to ATNL to Navy in 2016 and we were supposed to deliver it and and we're we're running running out of time. So, we're we we are accelerating as fast as possible, but slick amend is also another deterrent that will really be a gamecher. Sir,

▶ 1:13:58thank you. Y back yields back and I recognizes Mr. Courtney.

▶ 1:14:03Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, Admiral Ko, a few weeks ago, Indopacam commander Admiral Paparo testified that the AA security agreement is essential and that pillar one of the AUS optimal pathway quote is on track in every regard. Uh, as you know, Congress has made direct investment in the submarine industrial base, $10 billion uh, since 20 starting in 2018. Uh, and we're seeing some um positive uh, results.

▶ 1:14:29In 2025 in New England, there was a 13% increase in submarine tonnage. Uh we had the commissioning of the 25th and 26th Virginia class submarine. Uh just a few weeks ago, the acting secretary was there for the Idaho the number 26th and the 27th and the 28th are pressure hole complete and they're in the process of going through sea trials. Knock on wood delivery and commissioning sometime within the next 12 months uh or so.

▶ 1:14:55So my question to you is, do you agree with the findings of the AUS review last December that endorsed continuing our commitment to that security agreement as well as Admiral Paparo's testimony?

▶ 1:15:07Congressman Courtney, uh, I wholeheartedly agree with it. I was part of it. I was in bed creating it. uh I made a lot of the recommendations in it that were actually adopted and fully support AUS Pillar One, fully support S Paparro's statement and I look forward to standing up submarine squadron 3 later this year and making sure that submarine rotational force west becomes alive and getting the first Virginia class transfer to Australia next year as we continue to build out where they eventually buy US submarines.

▶ 1:15:38So fully support sir.

▶ 1:15:40Thank you. Um, you know, another aspect of this is, uh, having surge readiness, uh, in place. And I know when Admiral Houston took over at Naval Reactors, uh, it was hovering around 60% uh, in terms of submarine availability. It's sort of gone up a little, a little bit down a little.

▶ 1:15:57And um but can you talk about again how something that doesn't get talked about a lot, but if you're really talking about making sure that our undersea fleet um is going to be um in a position to complete the commitments that AAS calls for, but also make sure that all our combatant commanders like Admiral Paparo um you know have the um access uh to to the undersea fleet at the same time.

▶ 1:16:21Well, I mean this is really about you know posture. you know, where do we put our submarines and and homeport them in a way that we can sustain them and operate them? That's why Guam is so important, the submarine squadron 15 there. That's why, you know, Hawaii and and of course San Diego become very important.

▶ 1:16:37And then what we've done is I think in a very thoughtful way is uh for once in a lifetime shared technology with a close partner in Australia to give them a no kidding submarine force that will add an entirely new dimension to the threats we face in the Indo-acific. And so that under the submarine squadron and the way we will command and control that working with the Australian Navy who are great partners and have been for decades will give Admiral Paparo access to those submarines as well.

▶ 1:17:05Thank you. So, and General Smith along the same lines. I mean, making sure that uh the amphibious ship industrial base both in terms of production and uh repair and maintenance. Uh I mean, that's pretty key to making sure that we have the MW uh levels that that um you have again testified over the years about. Can you sort of give us sort of your perspective about where that um those efforts that that enterprise

▶ 1:17:32Sure, I can. the the the three what I base it on is a 3.0 argu presence uh are the the 31 uh amphibious warfare ships that are required by law are based on 80% readiness and again we're we're well below 80% readiness so my requirement is a 3.0 no army presence and I'm agnostic as to how we improve the amphibious readiness. Uh there's multiple ways you can do it.

▶ 1:17:56Uh you can do optimized maintenance and force generation, you can do targeted service life extensions, and you can do new ship procurement or a combination of the three. And so I defer to to my shipmate Daryl Codle on how to meet that requirement. But both services agree that 31 ships is simply not enough for a 3.0 army presence. Um achieving this requires increased investment and again PB27 is a significant down payment on this.

▶ 1:18:20Great. Thank you. So I've only got a little bit of time left. Next week um the SE power subcommittee is going to be holding its own sort of posture budget um uh perspective. There will be many questions about the battleship program. Um you know we're going from basically a poster board in December to a billion dollars requested this year, 17 billion the following year.

▶ 1:18:41Um, you know, the one lesson certainly in my time here is that before you start cutting steel, you got to make sure your design piece is done or pretty darn close to done. Um, we have, you know, whether Zumwalt or LCS, I mean, the the stories still haunt. I think uh, a lot of us hear about the fact when that, you know, discipline is not sort of adhered to. But again, I'm running out of time, but I want to at least flag that for you and your team that, you know, we've got lots of issues and questions we want to explore on that.

▶ 1:19:11With that, I yield back. Gentleman yields back. Chair now recognize gentleman from Mississippi, General Kelly.

▶ 1:19:17Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, I want to start by just saying that uh we need every shipyard in America at full capacity. We need every dry dock repairing some ship that we have somewhere. That is critical. I just visited the Philly shipyard uh this last weekend. We don't they they can be complimentary.

▶ 1:19:36We need to make sure all these shipyards at full capacity that they have a steady demand signal and that we continue to produce warships but not only warships but logistical ships that support both our time mariners and our navy. And so whatever it does, some of those skills interact. So, I want to begin by thanking President Trump for his leadership in restoring our military, including historic investments in our ship building and strengthening the defense industrial base.

▶ 1:20:04The budget builds on that progress and reinforces the national defense remains a top priority. Secretary Cal, congratulations on your appointment, and thank you for releasing a 30-year ship building plan. I have been on this committee for nine years and I have been asking for nine years for a 30-year ship building plan and we finally have one. While I may not agree with the contents of every one of it or exactly how it goes, at least we have a basis to now determine what type of ships to build.

▶ 1:20:35Secretary Cal, um, what can this committee be doing to help incentivize a quicker amphib production rate? Thank you, Congressman, for that uh for again for your comments and as well as you know getting out the ship building plan was hard but the way I see it the Congress of the United States is like the board of trustees and I need to answer your your an your questions and you know it might not be perfect 30 years on because we we had no idea what what

▶ 1:21:05the world looked like 30 years ago. I mean uh we we didn't know anything about autonomous vehicles. We didn't know about uh that China was a threat. We didn't even know who Osama bin Laden was. So I want to concentrate definitely on the 5, 10, 15 years and that includes the the amphibious ships as well. And and like you said, we need to pull every single lever there is in order to get ship building going. And it may very well be something simple like you know these young people that we lied to say, hey, you have to have a degree to make a living. And they're they're they're not working right now.

▶ 1:21:36What can we do to maybe even freeze their their loans, right? Right. And then when they work at a shipyard, they we we pay off every year we pay off a year of that loan just so they can have the the the honor of a working for a living as well as as paying off their bills. But there there's a lot of things we need to do, sir. But the main thing is we we need this budget to be passed so that we can, you know, energize and invigorate ship building. Sir,

▶ 1:22:00Admiral Codle, I I'm just going to make a comment because I really don't have time, but the Navy has to get better about not procrastinating on amphib readiness. We need to either build more amphibs and we need to keep those ships ready. Uh and and I know that we're improving, but we need to improve much faster because we need those. That's the Swiss knife of our Navy and ground forces and air power. And so those amphibs are so important for both hard and soft power around the globe.

▶ 1:22:28And so whatever it takes, we need to commit to getting 3.0 or Muse. Uh with that, I want to talk just a little bit about the E2DS and the uh it continues to prove itself as one of the Navy's most important battle management and command and control platforms. Uh tell me uh what what do you think about the blockbine? Is it the right numbers? And how important are these E2D E2Ds to the force?

▶ 1:22:57Well, sir, thank you. Let me just say just real quick, there is no daylight between this table on amphib readiness. We're all behind 30 and we're working. I look forward to talking to you about the improvements on E2. You got it exactly right. That is a special sauce of the airwing. Obviously, it's recognized not only for its ability to support carrier strike group, but we dirt them as well and support the joint force. And so, it's a need for the that joint capability is crucial. Blockby is essential for a lot of reasons.

▶ 1:23:25one, it gives a clear demand signal to the investors who build this and actually who are going to produce it. It allows me to actually factor in through a more structured way how we modernize. It's how we actually keep that the the line open in a more productive manner. So, I'm behind the block by methodology. I think it's really important to do it in that factor.

▶ 1:23:44Thank you. And General Smith, I don't want to leave you out, but the KC130JS, it's really important that we keep the the the procurement strategy that it's not delayed and that capacity is so important to the Marine Corps's mission. Is that correct, General Smith?

▶ 1:23:58Sir, KC130 is is if I had to pick a platform that I would keep and the best of all others, I'd pick the KC130J.

▶ 1:24:05And don't forget about my PAS. Okay. And with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.

▶ 1:24:10Gentleman yields back. Chair recognize gentleman from Massachusetts, Mr. Molton. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Uh, Mr. Acting Secretary, uh, thank you for your service to our country. You said that the Navy would have five unmanned naval vessels by 2027 and 63 by 2031. Now, I agree that unmanned systems are a huge part of the future of naval warfare, but what about the small autonomous sea drones that are actually doing the work in Ukraine? Because Ukraine is producing hundreds of sea drones a month. We're nowhere near that level.

▶ 1:24:39Now, I thought Secretary Hexath was proud of leaning up very far forward on drones and autonomous systems. It doesn't feel like that's your department's priority.

▶ 1:24:50Actually, Congressman, that's that's far from the truth, sir. We are very invested in in uh drones. In fact, we have the uh Raz PA that that's who her whole job is to look at uh drones and

▶ 1:25:04Okay. So, so Ukraine, you say you're very invested in drones. Ukraine's standard sea drones cost about $250,000 a piece and using those they've pretty much destroyed Russia's entire Black Sea feat fleet. I mean billions of dollars in in damages. Do you think that that kind of capability might help us in the straight of Hormuz today?

▶ 1:25:22Absolutely sir. Again, when I say the five, we're talking large ones and we we are investing a lot of the small ones and I will turn that over to Admiral Codle who can tell you more about the requirements for small unmanned

▶ 1:25:33Well, I'm just wondering. I mean, you're requesting $17 billion for a single battleship hull that won't be delivered until 2036. Do you know how many 250,000 drones you could buy for that one Trump class battleship?

▶ 1:25:46Yes, sir. But those drones cannot carry the conventional prom strike or have

▶ 1:25:50Okay, just to put this in perspective, it's 68,000 drones. I think 68,000 when Ukraine is producing 50 to 100, actually sorry, several hundred a month might help us today in the Straight of Hormuz. I I just don't does not feel like a good investment.

▶ 1:26:09Again, sir, the the drones can't get there by themselves. It's like the little turtle that sits on your fence post. You know, someone's got to put

▶ 1:26:15You know, it's funny. The Ukrainians managed to get them there. They barely even have a navy. We have 55 times the coastline of Ukraine. So if they can figure it out, Mr. Secretary, I'd like to think American can figure out, too. Now, Mr. Acting Secretary, you told a

▶ 1:26:28and very American story of how your family immigrated from Vietnam a few years after the war. I'm proud that our country supported you and your family. Do you think we should do the same for our Afghan allies who are being hunted down by the Taliban right now as we Sir, uh before I I uh I came to this job, uh actually right after the fall off Afghanistan, I mean, which broke my heart. I mean, watching mothers hand babies to Marines just reminded me of what happened in Vietnam.

▶ 1:26:56I understand. And I was there, too. I felt the same way. But I'm just asking, do you think we should give the same privileges and opportunities to our Afghan allies that our country gave to you and your family and your friends?

▶ 1:27:07Sir, I mean, I anybody who comes here legally should should be given the uh the opportunity to come here. And

▶ 1:27:13well, I'll tell you what, you and I will disagree on a lot of things. You might even say we're political adversaries, but I'm very proud that President Ford, President Carter, President Reagan did not deport you or your family while you were working on becoming citizens. Now, Mr. Arctic Secretary, you have publicly supported Secretary Hicks's proposal to ban active duty military members from attending Harvard. Both your official bio and your bio for the Senate campaign proudly list your Harvard affiliation.

▶ 1:27:39As a Harvard fellow yourself, do you believe the education and credentials that you received compromised your ability to serve or lead effectively?

▶ 1:27:48Sir, we are looking at the best uh education for our military members. I mean, we that that's why Naval

▶ 1:27:54But did Harvard make you too woke? Did Harvard make you too woke to be Secretary of the Navy?

▶ 1:27:59No, sir. But Naval Postgraduate School But you survived Harvard without becoming woke. You don't trust your officers who get in there, who want to go there, who apply there to be able to go there themselves and not be

▶ 1:28:16Congressman, we we need to invest into where where they would best fit for the Navy. Again, going to naval postgraduate school. I actually got

▶ 1:28:22So, you think it was a big mistake you for you to go to Harvard because you talk about it a lot in your bio?

▶ 1:28:28Actually, I mentioned it once, sir. Uh, I mean, it's just that

▶ 1:28:30you think it was a mistake,

▶ 1:28:32sir. I I would I would love my I love my education at Naval Postgraduate School because it allowed me to learn.

▶ 1:28:37Yeah, but I'm asking you about Harvard.

▶ 1:28:39If you can't answer the question,

▶ 1:28:41don't take the job, Mr. Secretary. Let me ask you another question.

▶ 1:28:44You're the final authority for naming US Navy ships. Do you think President Clinton, who dodged the draft, never served in the military, and was impeached, should have CVN82 named after

▶ 1:28:57Sir, the the convention for naming naming um

▶ 1:29:00Yes or no, Mr. Secretary? Sir, I mean that's that's

▶ 1:29:03Do you think do you think the the ship should be named after the president of United States? Sir,

▶ 1:29:08so you support naming it after President

▶ 1:29:11I I have to review all the the naming convention, sir. I've not reviewed.

▶ 1:29:14Well, I hope that you do.

▶ 1:29:16I chair now recognizes gentleman from Texas, Dr. Jackson.

▶ 1:29:20Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh thank you for convening the hearing. Uh Secretary Cal, Admiral Codle, and General Smith, thank you for your service. Thank you for being here today. Uh, Secretary Cal, uh, really glad to see you sitting in that seat. Uh, as the PRC continues to modernize its fleet at a historic pace, the need for a ready and capable American naval force has never been greater.

▶ 1:29:39The Department of the Navy fiscal year 2027 budget request is a defining moment to reassert the United States as the world's greatest maritime power to rebuild our industrial base and deliver a larger, more capable golden fleet to our sailors and marines. Under President Trump's leadership, this budget proposes a historic 46% increase in ship building funding, representing the highest level of naval investment since 1962 and a clear transition to a permanent wartime footing.

▶ 1:30:07Simultaneously accelerates US Marine Corps modernization by four years. We must deliver these generational investments and we must do it without delay. The Marine Corps's ability to sustain a credible 3.0 O amphibious ready group marine expeditionary unit argu presence is foundational to the nation's forward crisis response in deterrence posture particularly as demand for naval expeditionary force grows across theaters.

▶ 1:30:31However, General Smith, you have emphasized that simply hitting a ship count requirement is a meaning is meaningless if those ships aren't operationally ready to sustain a persistent argu presence. I know we've talked a little bit about this subject already, but while I fully support and the investing in the procurement of new ships, are we also making sufficient investments in amphibious readiness, maintenance, and industrial-based capacity to sustain the Marine Corps 3.0 Argu requirement in the long term?

▶ 1:31:01And if not, what should we be doing here as members of Congress to make sure that that happens and that ball does not get dropped? General? Well, sir, I'll defer to the CNO on on the specifics of of the amphibious warship maintenance project, but what I can tell you is they do require funding. They require the funding to get after the spare parts. They require the funding to get after the time that it takes to produce the the maintenance in the yards.

▶ 1:31:26And so, again, I will defer to Admiral Codle on on the actual how that happens, but those ships have to go into and come out of maintenance on time. I was taught by my assistant mech commander, a guy named Chris McFillips called Sign McFly, that most of the maintenance we do is because of the maintenance we do on our aircraft. Anyway, you go in to open up a wing and you pop a couple of rivets and next thing you know, what was going to be a a light on a wing.

▶ 1:31:52Uh you you've you've accelerate or you've extended, pardon me, you've extended the time that a that an aircraft or a ship is in the yards. It has to go into stick to the maintenance schedule and come out of on Sir, we're doing a whole host of things.

▶ 1:32:07One, u you know, we have we had to get better at planning and so we we've started what we call our signature availabilities where instead of like, you know, really starting the planning in earnest, you know, at the kind of the 120 days prior to the avail starting, it's starting a full contractual out one year now. That's important. Two port engineers are overseeing that. Critical path has always been a bit on diesel overhaul.

▶ 1:32:30We're pulling that out of the avail actually repair diesels during a time it's more opportune for us instead of putting that into the critical path long lead time material for these designs boilers and some of this stuff is very old and actually improving long lead time material ordering uh planning improvements and probably the most important thing we've done is put a four-star oversight board the uh assistant common of the marine corps and the vice chief of naval operations runs a quarterly meeting that puts heat and light on amphib maintenance It briefs

▶ 1:33:01the secretary out every quarter on this so that we ensure we have wise eyes wide open understanding of any barriers that need to be knocked down.

▶ 1:33:09Thank you, Admiral. I appreciate that. And I want to do as much as we possibly can. Uh as the political winds change, which they often do up here, I want to make sure that we're doing everything we can to finish this job that we started that's critical to the national security of this country. One more question for you. Uh, Admiral, uh, the V22 Osprey produced is produced at Bell Helicopter, as you may know, in Amarillo, Texas, where I live, remains indispensable for Marine Corps assault, Navy fleet logistics, and special warfare operations.

▶ 1:33:32As part of the one big beautiful bill, I was proud to secure $160 million for the Navy's CMV22 Nell improvement program, and I'm encouraged to see the Marine Corps is now planning to fully implement these improvements as well, a priority that is clearly reflected in the FY27 request. Admiral, how is the NEL improvement program delivering improved readiness and reliability for the V22 fleet, especially given the findings of the recent NAVAIR review?

▶ 1:33:56As the Marine Corps moves toward full implementation with their MV22 fleet, can you commit that the Navy will also continue to fund these improvements across the entire CMB22 fleet in future years as soon as

▶ 1:34:09Yes, sir. I know we're short on time. You have my full commitment on that. Nothing's more important. It's part of our airwing. We're not going back. The CMV22 is extremely important. You have my full commitment on it.

▶ 1:34:20Thank you, sir. I appreciate that. I yield back.

▶ 1:34:21Gentleman yields back. Chair not recognizes a gentleman from California, Mr. Carvajal. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to the witnesses for being here. Uh, General Smith, it's good to see you again. Uh, the Marines are the only service to have passed a clean audit. As a Marine myself, I'm very proud to say that. This is something we need for the entire Department of Defense and every service branch to accomplish. For decades, the DoD has failed to achieve this.

▶ 1:34:51Frankly, I think it's shameful and an insult to the American taxpayers. General Smith, what lessons did the Marines learn during your audit process that can be applied to the other services to help them also pass their long long overdue, decades overdue audits?

▶ 1:35:12Well, sir, thanks for calling out the Marines for passing three consecutive audits. Um, we're we're we're very proud of that. Um, we're uh again, we're the only service to do so, and it's not because we have the smallest budget. You know, if we were a Fortune 500 company, we'd be in the top 100 of Fortune 500 companies. Uh, we do it just based on simple accountability. And I always use this analogy, although I date myself. When a Marine checks into a battalion, you you check out a shelter half, uh, five tent pins and three tent poles.

▶ 1:35:40And when you check out, you turn in a shelter half, three tent poles, and five tent pins. Or you get your butt down to Saigon Sams. You buy them. Uh, because you're signed for them. You're accountable for them. We hold commanders accountable for every dollar that they spend, for every dollar that has to be spent for the purpose for which it was We run a very, very tight ship. Um, we're very for we're a very efficient service and we hold commanders accountable. When you fail to meet your obligations, we relieve you.

▶ 1:36:10Thank you. Clearly, you could uh teach the other uh branches what the hell they need to be doing. Uh so much for the doge uh trying to find fraud, waste, and efficiency. Um with that, I would like to uh yield the rest of my time to my good friend, Representative Tran.

▶ 1:36:30Representative Carverhal, thank you so much. Gentlemen, thank you for being here. Mr. Secretary, congratulations on your appointment. Today is a historic day. For the first time, a Vietnamese American defense official stands before a Vietnamese American member of Congress. This moment belongs to our parents and every soul who traded everything for a chance at liberty. You and I carry the weight of a diaspora that has never forgotten the sting of oppression.

▶ 1:36:57We are the living voice for those silenced by the communist Vietnamese government. We have a moral mandate to hold that regime accountable for its relentless human rights violations. I pray you will stand with me in that fight. We must also ensure the freedom we found here reaches across the Pacific. We must maintain a presence so formidable the Chinese Communist Party understands the Indo-Pacific will never be surrendered to autocracy.

▶ 1:37:24This is our moment to lead not just for our country but for the legacy and the freedom we were chosen to protect. Mr. Secretary, as you know, I represent the largest Vietnamese community outside of Vietnam. Our community remains deeply concerned about the communist uh Vietnamese government's unlawful yelling of political prisoners. Will you commit to joining me in calling for Vietnam to free political prisoners and prisoners of conscience?

▶ 1:37:55Congressman, thank you so much for your kind words, sir. Again, I owe this country everything and I've bled for this country and I will die for this country for for everything that it's given me. Um, and again, a lot of my family members were imprisoned wrongfully, and we need to always stand stand up against oppression. And that's what our our job as the United States. We we don't we didn't ask for this. We didn't ask to be the the the policemen of the world. We didn't ask to defend, but that's that's how it is, sir. And we will always fight injustice in this country.

▶ 1:38:25And

▶ 1:38:25sir, thank you. I appreciate you standing with me on this. And General Smith, I'm going to shift over to you real quick. We've also seen that 2,500 Marines and three warship transferred from the Indo Pacific to the Middle East to support operations in Vietnam um in Iran, excuse me. Uh what gaps has this created in the Marine Corps's ability to deter our adversaries in the Indo Pacific and how are you filling the

▶ 1:38:49Well, frankly, the the the gap is is unfilled. Uh when you move an expeditionary unit, a marine expeditionary unit in our mu you simply don't replace it. um when you move one force from one combatant command theater to another, you don't replace it. But the beauty of the argu is that it is returnable. It can sail under its own power and it can return from the Middle East back into the Indoacific. And that is the the value of the ARMU is it is globally deployable much like a carrier strike group. It is globally deployable.

▶ 1:39:17It can be passed from one combatant commander to another. I

▶ 1:39:21appreciate that. My time is about up. So chairman now you miss you're recognized for five minutes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, Mr. Secretary, congratulations. Welcome to the hot seat. Admiral and General, thank you for your service. And everyone in uniform in the audience today, thank you for your service to this this amazing country. Admiral and Mr.

▶ 1:39:43Secretary and Admiral, you both spoke on um overseas ship building and using the utilizing the yards in foreign countries to build out our boats. Where is the coming from that we're going to utilize on these subs and ships?

▶ 1:40:01Um, I think there are multiple sources that could come from global uh

▶ 1:40:05are any of those in the United States?

▶ 1:40:07I can guarantee you that the majority of it at least for submarines is coming from the United States of America.

▶ 1:40:13Have you ever heard the metals?

▶ 1:40:16No sir, Mr. Secretary?

▶ 1:40:19No sir, I have not.

▶ 1:40:20Okay. You mentioned in your opening statement that everything that goes into the Department of War and the buildout of our shifts and is going to touch each one of our districts. Well, Hurt the Metals happens to be in my district and they produce a cheaper, more viable steel than anyone else. Period. And they are in the process of kind of on sitting on G waiting on O. And Mr. Secretary, you mentioned that the deputy secretary has got some sort of announcement that he's going to make.

▶ 1:40:47And my concern is and we had a very interesting uh hearing yesterday about with the five families if you will and the concern is the department of war has a tendency to take everyone up to a specific spot and they kind of go on pause. Well Metals is that small refined company that is that is very capable but if the department of war does not activate they're going to be in a very bad spot.

▶ 1:41:10And now I'm not going to hold you to you're going to give me this answer tonight or I'm excuse me today or tomorrow, but I do not my concern is that that company that's worked so hard to produce something that would just benefit the United States will be lost because of the inactivity or inaction of the secretaries and the department of war. Yes, Congressman. Okay, Mr.

▶ 1:41:35Secretary, a few weeks, maybe months ago, you and I had a conversation in my office, and one of your primary concerns was the health and well-being, specifically focused around suicide in our service. I'm going to allow you to speak on that in front of this committee, in front of the world that's watching on your pathway or this or the lane that you plan on walking to decrease that problem not only that we have inside of our service, but most certainly in our in our veteran

▶ 1:42:08Congressman, thank you so much for this opportunity. This is so dear near and dear to my heart. I come from a community, the EOD community, which has one of the largest suicide rates in our veterans and it's it's unacceptable. Uh we we've done what our country asked us to do and you know now we're paying the prices of that and I think it's the first thing is for leaders to be veteran vulnerable.

▶ 1:42:29This morning I released a a a message to the fleet about my my issues that I've s suffered from uh traumatic brain injury from being you know in explosions as well as PTSD from having to recover bodies from the bottom in the ocean and as well as uh recovering piece and parts from from uh from other bodies that that I recovered on the battlefield as well.

▶ 1:42:50We need to do everything from uh you know explore every single avenue like we discussed in your office to for for PTSD for TBI including hyperbarics oxygen therapy. You're talking about a lot of the the other medicinal uh

▶ 1:43:05Yes sir. We we need to explore every single thing for our military members but also what I've I've asked my uh service chiefs to do is look at crisis intervention. We need to train this at every level from the petty officer to the NCO level all the way up to the command leadership because everybody is a first responder. When you're you're with your sailors and marines, you know, when you're working with them in in that squad, in that platoon, uh in that that division, you know, you know when they're not right.

▶ 1:43:32And so, we need for every single sailor and marine to be that first responder says, "Come along with me. Let's let's let's take a walk. Let's talk about what you're what's going on." And these are things we're pushing forward, sir. And we're we're leaning very heavily into it. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. And I I have two more things. One, I I I would hate to see the steel that we use on our on our ships and subs come from another country if we have the capability inside of the United States. And I will and uh General, you're not going to I'm okay. Two things.

▶ 1:44:01This is going to be very hard as a Navy man talking to a Marine, but the way that I understand it, sir, is you are the very first Texas A&M come out of the Marine Corps. Is that true? I believe that is correct,

▶ 1:44:14Okay. So, I have to There's my Aggie right there waiting. I was waiting for him to chime in. As a Navy guy giving a marine a compliment, congratulations, sir. And as a Longhorn giving an Aggie a compliment, job well done.

▶ 1:44:29It's a great way to have my daughter's horn.

▶ 1:44:32Mr. Keing, you're recognized.

▶ 1:44:35Well, thank you very much. Uh I'd like to thank uh our witnesses for their service and for being here today. um at this stage of the hearing I'm going to get a little granular uh on issues and maybe a little provincial but u uh the whole idea of the procurement process that goes forward there's a couple of things that uh we've worked I think as a committee to try and promote uh one of them uh myself in particular is the encouragement

▶ 1:45:05of universities and our schools of learning our great resource in this country uh being part of uh the process of procurement and and dealing with issues. And uh I've had a program since fiscal year 19 funded uh it's zero funded now uh out of the University of Massachusetts, but it it's been a win-win situation. Uh they work with the undersea uh Navy College to uh bring students over. They're learning.

▶ 1:45:36They're part of it. Many of them are going on to help our defense industry going forward and undersea technology uh and uh the research helps as well as uh getting uh young people involved that are going to go into uh into service of our country in these regards. So, uh is there still a role for this uh university component uh as the Navy's looking at some of these contracts and agreements?

▶ 1:46:05because I think it's important to emphasize and I I'm obviously concerned about this one that was zero funded, but I'm concerned generally too because the universities come in and uh they're not a bottom line uh company or corporation that has to just first look at their shareholders first for profits. Uh they're coming in I think with open eyes and they give a different look to things.

▶ 1:46:27So uh is that something that uh I think continue or should continue going forward in the Congressman, I think we need to look at every single aspect. I mean, MIT, Lincoln Labs, all these other industry, other uh centers of of uh learning are so important to to look at things a different way. I mean, as much as I love the Naval Academy, I can't have every single officer come from the Naval Academy. And and again, we need people in the Merchant Marine as well.

▶ 1:46:56So, US Merchant Marine Academy produces amazing uh merchant mariners, but also Massachusetts and main maritimemies as well for for our uh civilian merchant marines as well. So, we need we need the whole country to roll up their sleeves and and lean into this whether it's uh research and development, technology, uh innovation and u you know, as well as filling our officer ranks and our merchant marine ranks as well, sir. And I'll I'll turn over to Admiral Collar. He's got a lot more experiences than this as well.

▶ 1:47:27Sir, I would I'm glad you're championing this. I think it's important. This is full spectrum for us. We need more R&D from universities. Of course, we need more STEM degree seeeking students. We need more vocational uh private public partnerships with vocational schools to generate the talent and the skill sets we need. And then quite frankly, I actually leverage additional and unused space today to actually do school our my own Navy schools in partnership with universities to leverage their empty classrooms.

▶ 1:47:58So, it's just across the spectrum of of academia that we actually need to upg. So, I completely agree with the secretary on that and fully committed to doing more there.

▶ 1:48:07Great. I'll follow up with that, but uh I I thought that was the policy and it was been working so well uh on so many fronts that are needs. Uh I'm almost out of time. Another thing we're working on in procurement is just trying to get smaller companies involved instead of the larger corporations. Uh and I had one in my district in New Bedford and see if I can summarize this quickly, but they, you know, they were told that unmanned warships uh were needed quickly.

▶ 1:48:34They ran through a a competition called the modular attack surface craft competition. And here's the concern with some of the smaller ones. And I'll just raise it and you really don't have to answer it, but I just want you to uh hear it again. When they're doing this and they're trying to get capital in these small companies, they're not like the large corporations in doing that. There's changes that occur in the process.

▶ 1:48:56So they're going into this uh uh with one prototype uh and then after after already selecting the companies, then they're moving to different prototypes. a changing course uh and that causes for smaller companies a great difficulty.

▶ 1:49:12So I'll just raise that as an issue to as a way to try and ameliate some of those conflicts because what happens with the smaller companies like that uh that can offer so many so much innovation more quickly uh they turn around and they lose their capital uh they can't sustain that. So I just offer that as a comment. I thank you again. uh this committee has had a priority on working uh on the procurement issue I think with some real success and I thank you for your service. I yield back.

▶ 1:49:42Mr. Valon, you're recognized for

▶ 1:49:44Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ameliorate. That is a word I'm going to look up. Very good. Uh Secretary Cow, in your opening remarks, you mentioned what your family lost into the hands of communist authoritarians and it was stirring and it literally gave me goosebumps. Uh I recall it. It just gave us perspective. I think on what we're all doing here.

▶ 1:50:05When I was knocking on doors years ago, I met a fellow in a similar circumstance, lost everything, and he was a brand new voter and he grabbed my shoulder and he said, "This is the last life raft of liberty we have. We have nowhere else to go." So, thank you for sharing that. Secretary Kelly, you also mentioned you've known Rob Goucher, Admiral Goucher, for 36 years.

▶ 1:50:29The starting center for my high school football team was a fellow named Rob Goucher, which means by math I know I've known him 41 years. So I gotcha. Uh looking over the materials to prepare for this hearing, I still noted that uh the the aloat manning requirement were 20,000 shy and we had missed recruiting goals in the past and we hit them.

▶ 1:50:52Now, what I'd love to do is ask you and Admiral Codle um what you think how we can help you and what you all are doing to ensure number one that we continue to meet our recruiting goals.

▶ 1:51:05Thank you so much for just all your comments. Uh Congressman, last year alone, we we exceeded recruiting by 8600 new entrance into the Navy, above what we did in previous years. This year, we're well above above. We're going to meet above 11,000 more entrance, but we need to pay these guys. And this is why we need to pass this bill.

▶ 1:51:26So, so that we make sure that we we're we're giving the retention bonus and and and the enlistment bonus as well and and keep them in as well as providing safe, clean, comfortable housing for them. Uh at the same time, getting them the right training they need. And that's why I'm asking this body to please pass this bill because we need it in order to to pay pay our debt to to these young men and women who raised their hands. And and I I want to add to uh what give over to Admiral Codle for anything he might want to add.

▶ 1:51:54Just real quick, you know, mission uh improves our recruiting and retention. People love what they do in the Navy. You will see record retention coming from the Ford Strike Group. It's just the opposite of the lay people think, you know, as the secretary said, they're not coming back head held low. They're prideful. And so the our mission is what's recruiting and seeing record retention.

▶ 1:52:17But if any ask I would give you when you grow the force the way we have with 10 11 12,000 additional recruits my a school c school pipeline can be impeded by infrastructure requirements. So you know I need the infrastructure money to improve the barracks at my at my school houses to make sure they got a place to sleep without being for to a room.

▶ 1:52:38Well Admir I appreciate your comments about the most valuable resource you have as your sailors in their heartbeat of the Navy and I fully agree with that. Uh General, it was great to see you again. and I very much enjoyed meeting with you and your staff. Uh, high performers all around. Uh, can you visit with me a little bit and the committee on being the one branch that has met the recruiting goals every year? Why you think you did that and what best practices you can share with the other

▶ 1:53:02Well, sir, we we have a systematic recruiting system. We have a professional recruiting force which combines with those those Marines who are assigned to recruiting duty. Um, we hold them accountable for their mission just like we hold all Marines accountable for their mission and we reward them when they successfully complete a recruiting tour and we relieve them when they don't meet their mission. I mean, it's it is a simple you're required to go recruit this many people. If you fail that mission, we relieve you and move you on. Uh, if you successfully complete it, you're rewarded and you're sent back to your MOS.

▶ 1:53:32Um, we have a professional element of our recruiting force. Uh, they're 80, we call them 84 wonderfuls, 84 12s. They're they are full-time recruiters. So we combine full-time recruiters with those who were sent out through the recruiting school. We have a very professionalized recruiting force. We do systematic recruiting. You make so many phone calls, you get so many contacts. So many contacts leads to so many contracts. We have great relationships with our with our high schools. We have full and open access to high schools.

▶ 1:54:01Uh and our recruiters are just working hard. They're Marines. They don't know how to fail.

▶ 1:54:05URA, in the time we have left, Mr. Secretary, the pilot retention. Can we talk a little bit about that? What we need to do or Admiral, I want to just jump in there real quick because I noticed that we're having a little bit of an issue with that as well.

▶ 1:54:16Again, sir, this is going to be about the retention bonuses and and reducing the PCS, but I'll turn over to Admiral Ker real fast, sir.

▶ 1:54:22Thank you, sir. It is a problem. That's that's a critical point of all of our communities at the department head level where we get them to sign and then we got them for, you know, a career. And so, the aviation community, we're going full in on that. Part of that is a bit of an an artifact of backlog and the experience. So as we improve the experience for aviators, then I think the retention improvements will come.

▶ 1:54:43Amen. And my time is expired. Thank you very much. Uh Mr. Chairman, I yield

▶ 1:54:47Yeah. Miss Ulan, you're recognized for five minutes.

▶ 1:54:51Thank you, Mr. Chair. Secretary Cow, you made some really interesting statements in 2024 in a debate that you had with Senator Kaine. You said, "What we need is alpha males and alpha females who are going to rip out their guts, eat them, and ask for seconds. Those are young men and women that are going to win wars." Mr. Secretary, did you say that? And do you stand by that?

▶ 1:55:15Absolutely, ma'am. I I did say that and I I stand by it. I I command a naval diving salvage training center. We had one one standard only. It doesn't matter if you're man, woman, black, or white, because the sea is unforgiving and things like war and hardship is going to kill you the same. Perfect.

▶ 1:55:29My job is to make sure they live.

▶ 1:55:30I agree with you.

▶ 1:55:31Yes, ma'am.

▶ 1:55:32And I'll stop you there, Mr. Secretary. It is really wonderful to hear that you're supportive of everyone serving in the mil military, uh, brown, white, black, women, as you mentioned, especially the alpha ones, and I agree with that as well. I was wondering if you might share that support of those kinds of people, women included, with Secretary Hegsth, because it seems as though he has a very different perspective on that.

▶ 1:55:57Congresswoman, Secretary Hegsth and I are in line that as long as you meet the standards, then then you're you're ready to serve.

▶ 1:56:03Perfect. And then my next question, Mr. uh Secretary, is since you are supportive, and apparently Mr. Hegsth is as well, of women in service or at least of of genderneutral standards, I'm hopeful that you might take a look and be supportive of a bill that supports removing gender standards from service so that everyone is able to fit one standard. It's a bill called the Warrior Act.

▶ 1:56:25It's a bill that I've introduced and it would codify or put into law these standards of genderneutral requirements to make sure that everyone women included would qualified to serve would be able to. Would you be supportive of that, sir?

▶ 1:56:40Congressman, if they meet the the standards in in accordance with the rules, regulations, then again, I'm not I'm not a member of this this house. Uh so I I can't support or not support. I would love it if you would take a look at that because it is not without precedence that people such as you are supportive of ideas that come out of the Congress and this Warrior Act is something that given your stance on these issues I would imagine that you would be supportive of and it sounds as though given your uh relationship with Mr.

▶ 1:57:08Hegsth and your understanding of his belief that he should also be supportive of it as well. Sometimes unfortunately we actually have to put things in law that are common sense and I would love it if you take a look at the wire act. Similarly, one of the things that's frustrating to me and it's come up in this conversation quite a few times is that it's totally true that we need to be the most lethal uh force in the world in order to be successful. But we have for whatever reason begun to undermine the fact that bronze is not enough.

▶ 1:57:38that we also need to have brains to be able to be successful in the military and that technology and STEM education and all of those kinds of things are just as important as having somebody who's strong enough to carry a person. And one of the things that I'm really frustrated by in these conversations is we have maligned education. We have maligned research.

▶ 1:58:01We have maligned all of the things that make it possible for us to not only have lethality in our bronze, but also lethality in our brains. Admiral, I'd love it if you'd talk a little bit more about the fact that you uh have hit now three times during this hearing on the importance of STEM

▶ 1:58:20Well, Congresswoman, I mean, I hold four degrees myself, including a doctorate. So, I am a lifelong learner and firmly believe in everything you're saying that everyone should be a lifelong learner. So, uh, STEM education is extremely important in this and I'm always in close collaboration with our naval academy and the ROI units and of course the other programs OCS and making sure that the right the pie chart of STEM coming into the Navy is proper.

▶ 1:58:46I have to tension that a bit you know as far as you know sexbased differences you know one of the things that really has opened that up is women uh and submarines and some of the other initiatives who have a preponderance of the STEM degrees. So, you know, that's an area where I think there's been a real strength in that

▶ 1:59:03100%. And I would love to continue to emphasize the importance of that and to make sure that we have career paths, clear career paths that make people feel as though they're welcome in this ser in these services, all of them. My my father served in the Navy, my grandfather as well. I served in the Air Force, my my brother in the Army. Uh but I also want to make sure that we stop and knock off the nonsense of maligning places like Harvard or MIT. We those things have both come up now.

▶ 1:59:28We work so hard to be not just the best military in the world, but also to have the best schools in the world. And it's really, really important that we do that as well. I appreciate your time, gentlemen, and I yield back.

▶ 1:59:42Mr. Mo, you're recognized.

▶ 1:59:44Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, Mr. Secretary, congratulations. I'm glad we had the opportunity in your previous position, but I understand you're still holding that as well as being the SD dog uh for Indopaccom area. It's a wonderful experience I've had with you. I appreciate the visits that you have gone to Guam and the conversations that you had making sure IndopeCom is really protected. I'm very proud and I'm very happy that you're selected for this secretary. Thank you so much.

▶ 2:00:10Uh Admiral want to say thanks for mentioning uh the submariners on Guam. I I tell you I had a few conversations with a few of them young folks too and some of them even married on different ships. But it's really interesting how excited they are to be in the submarine because in Guam once you pull out the dock, you just go out a little drive and you're down deep as fast as possible. It's quite exciting. They tell me all about it. I wouldn't want to get on that sub. I'm an army guy, but but I'm glad they're there and I appreciate your support in the end area as well. Uh General, thank thank you.

▶ 2:00:40Gu had a great experience with the Marine Corps since World War II. Uh we're looking forward to the Marines coming on back as we feel uh continue to do the buildup at Camp Benos, our first Marine general from Guam. Uh find name after that for that camp and driving down Marine Drive. I'm look Marine Corps Drive. I'm looking forward to seeing the Marines occupy that camp as soon as possible. So I thank the Marines and I'm glad we have this and I'm thank you all for your interest in the most western soil of the United States of America, that Bing Gua.

▶ 2:01:11Thank you so much for that. uh secretary, you know, we had the opportunity I thank you for coming to my office also with uh assistant secretary Rogers. We were discussing the housing issue on Guam. As we had this build up with small island, it's quite difficult to keep up with the demand of housing. So, we roughly have 300 million that's been requested for housing construction uh in Guam for 2027.

▶ 2:01:35Uh and can you discuss with our your efforts for the your department on taking to reducing the military demands on the housing market in Guam and can provide us with more updates how the department plans to reduce reliance on existing housing stock while accommodating more focused uh stationed in Guam.

▶ 2:01:56Congressman, thank you so much for your kind words. I mean, what an amazing country this is that 51 years ago when I landed in Guam as a refugee that I came back as a senior defense official Guam and only in America can something like that happened and I think that God is kind of laughing. The Lord are is is kind of have has a sense of humor in this.

▶ 2:02:17Uh sir, as in terms of u housing in Guam, we we are looking at the most economical way to to develop there for our military members as well as uh as giving a little leeway for for the population there. I know that we we talked about making sure that people aren't getting gouged which drives up the cost of of uh the housing, but I also understand all the problems that happened with uh Typhoon Marwar uh that that happened there.

▶ 2:02:43So, we will continue to work together, Congressman, in order to make sure that we're developing Guam uh in in the right the most expeditious matter, including what we did recently with the uh working with the Department of Transportation for the the guaranteed cranes in uh at the port there as well. Sir, we're going to fight for Guam and we're going to fight fight from Guam and that's why Guam is so important to us, sir.

▶ 2:03:05Uh thank you for that. Uh also, uh in addition to the housing, we have the power situation. uh we we're so small, right? We're sh uh we're sharing with the Guam Power Authority, but we we're also talking about the snow small modular reactors. Uh but there still has to be a balance since the there's a lot of workforce outside uh and not all the small nuclear reactors if that does come.

▶ 2:03:29And by by the way, in in law, we also put there's a one-year not notification before that does come to the island if it is planned and goes forward. Just uh make sure you're awareness of that. Uh, but how do you plan to work the Guam Power Authority into your plans as we build up the powered grid needs?

▶ 2:03:48Congressman, again, we need power for for the defense of Guam with all the Guam defense systems out there. So, we will work handinand with the the government of Guam in order to ensure that we we stabilize the the the energy there as well as secure it. I mean, as you know, uh the um the Chinese have been trying to hack into Guam for for years and and so we need to to to secure the IT infrastructure in Guam as well while while we're securing the water and the power supplies uh for for the

▶ 2:04:17Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Uh General, are the Marines coming to Guam? Give us an update.

▶ 2:04:23Sir, we are um we we are building out Camp Blas, as you know. Uh we're going to occupy that in accordance with the DPRI, the defense posture review initiative, but we are coming to Guam and we are excited about it.

▶ 2:04:37Thank you. Looking forward to coming back to Guam and staying on Guam.

▶ 2:04:40Yes, sir.

▶ 2:04:41Thank you, Mr. Chair. You back.

▶ 2:04:43Mr. Golden, you're recognized.

▶ 2:04:46Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh good morning, gentlemen. I have to confess I was a little bit dismayed to see that the president's budget request included procurement for only one destroyer down from the usual two or three under previous administrations. I heard just yesterday from General Dynamics in a public setting that this week demand signal if approved by Congress would trigger layoffs at Bath Iron Works as soon as next year.

▶ 2:05:11So, imagine my surprise when I next receive the US Navy ship building plan, which said the department seeks congressional authority to build ships with foreign labor in foreign yards. And sir, I've read the plan. You aren't just proposing sending American workers to learn from foreign builders, which as an aside, I don't think you would want to go to a yard of American workers and tell them that you think they need to go overseas to learn their craft.

▶ 2:05:36On page 37, it says you want to build hulls in foreign yards, and you specifically say you intend to seek authority in this year's defense bill to build entire ships and hs of others overseas. Stop and think about that. In the same year that American ship builders might get laid off, the US Navy wants employ foreign workers. Good luck selling that as anything but a one for one trade-off. I can't believe the Navy would even consider it. And it would be an absolute shame if the Congress approved it.

▶ 2:06:06Secretary Hegth was before this committee just a few weeks ago and we talked a little bit about ship building. So I've already heard a part justification, the backlog of ships. I don't blame the Navy for wanting more surface ships in the fleet. But sir, there are no shortcuts to building a first class combatant ship. I've stood on foreign ships before and compared to ours, I thought it felt like it was made out of plastic. I kid you not.

▶ 2:06:32I think you'd have a hard time going to your sailors and asking them how they feel about going into a fight essentially on a hunk of junk. I would challenge the administration to claim that American ship builders don't build at best, especially the ship builders from my state where everyone knows the phrase bath built best built. There's many lever levers the Navy could pull to speed up ship construction. But you know what you absolutely do without and that's experienced ship builders that know how to build it right.

▶ 2:07:01walk the shipyards and talk to the workers. You will get a sense that the work going on there stands upon the shoulders of generations of ship building knowledge and the skill set to build top-notch ships at pace just doesn't happen The country needs to protect this core national security asset. Ship builders with the knowledge base and skill sets to build our naval fleet. The Navy sees an opportunity to build faster with foreign labor. I see nothing but risk.

▶ 2:07:30And given the justifications offered, I just don't see how the juice is worth the squeeze. The backlog is nothing from my in my opinion but a present- day demand signal that incentivizes shipyard investments in both infrastructure and in the American ship builder. In the past few years, I have watched Bath Iron Works carry out a recruitment campaign. They've trained young ship builders and they've successfully increased their rate of production year-over-year coming out of CO. and they aren't done making progress on that front.

▶ 2:08:00But now, this proposal would literally pull the rug out from underneath them. And it's not just BIW. This proposal would send work overseas across multiple platforms. This administration has said over and over that it will prioritize American manufacturing. How could those goals possibly square with a request to offshore American fleet production?

▶ 2:08:20Every hole that gets sent overseas weakens America's ship builders, making it harder for them to maintain the capacity, knowledge, and technical to build and maintain the fleet that your sailors are going to go to war in. This proposal weakens America's industrial base. It would weaken our American supply chains. And most importantly, it puts at risk the benefits of innovation that happen only on deck plates. And I'm not talking about engineers or AI.

▶ 2:08:49I'm talking about the type of innovation you get from a ship builder. To send any portion of our ship building overseas would be a complete failure. There's no way I will support that proposal. And I hope that my colleagues in this Congress join me in opposing it. Even better would be for the Navy to withdraw it, rethink it, and come back with a plan to strengthen American shipyards. There's no way that you had much involvement in the drafting of this.

▶ 2:09:17It didn't happen in three weeks, but I'm going to forget trying to pull it out of my memory, but General Powell, I think, said in his 13 rules of leadership, when you come into a new command position, don't just go making changes immediately. And I can't quite remember if it's 30 days or 90 days, but I'll go with 30. After 30 days, sir, you own it.

▶ 2:09:38Thank you, Congressman. Uh, again, we have 80 ships on contract and 59 in construction right now. And I just need for bath iron works if they can again I would love to add 10 destroyers in every year if we could could

▶ 2:09:51you guys can finish this conversation later. The gentleman's time is respired expired and I know you will. Dr. McCormack you're recognized.

▶ 2:09:59Thank you Mr. Chair. Uh it's great to have you all here. It's near and dear to my heart as a both a Marine Corps and Navy veteran. Uh, welcome and congratulations for passing three consecutive audits and and congratulations to your son for becoming a Marine Corps officer. I'm really excited about that. I'm I'm a little jealous. Ronnie Jackson just had his commission in the Marine Corps as well, as you know. And congratulations for having four degrees. I'm a little jealous of that, too.

▶ 2:10:25Um, one of the interesting things that came up, you you you expressed in your opening remarks, uh, the greatness of having three Marine Expeditionary units deployed at any given time to react to all the things going around the world. Um, the assistant commonant came here and actually, uh, testified that we needed basically in order to sustain those three ARGM uh, basically a 40 ship amphibious fleet. Um, do you agree with that? I do, sir.

▶ 2:10:55It's a combination of making what we have more ready and a combination of that combined with buying

▶ 2:11:01Okay. Admiral, uh, one of the things I saw in your in your 40 Amphib 40 Amphib ships doesn't really match your plan. I looked at your plan and and, uh, the last time I saw the Navy's 30 ship building plan tops out at 35 Amphib ships, and that is in 2055. Uh, am I incorrect in any of that? uh

▶ 2:11:24sir I can tell you you know I think until recent meaning within the last year have we come and become aligned on 30 and so the Navy was committed to 31 and when we you know really you know realized you know I am all about 30 that I needed some space to go understand the fourth generation process losing the Baham shard hurt all the things that we're doing to improve the readiness before I can land a full number but if you just do three O arg mu that's nine ships.

▶ 2:11:54If you say a four to make one or a five to make one that lands somewhere between 36 ships and 45 ships. So in initial rough order of magnitude 40 ships that's not that can't be that far

▶ 2:12:05So so when I I'm a simple marine I only can get up to 20 because I run out of toes and fingers. So your your degrees outmatch my fingers in many ways. Uh but when I turn turn to the secretary who I consider a friend and and spent time with and I say how do we reconcile those numbers when our best ship contract is six months behind and well and about 150% over budget uh and we do have shipping problems here in America and I I get the the challenge uh where we've fallen behind. I I went to Japan and Korea recently and looked at their ship building.

▶ 2:12:35What are they doing differently? How they modernized? How they've they've gotten better at us than us? I mean, they they deliver almost every ship under budget and on time. We never do that. And and our shipping industry is basically clapped on itself. No offense to the guys who do it, but we're obviously not doing something right. And so I I applaud you for thinking outside the box. Whatever the answer is, bringing in their abilities, bringing in their technologies, bringing in their their management skills, whatever it is, we need to change business.

▶ 2:13:02Obviously, I'm trying to ask the secretary, how do we reconcile the difference between 40 and 35 ships? And how do we get back on time? It's not just the way we contract, it's the way we build. How do we reconcile that?

▶ 2:13:14You're absolutely right, Congressman. Again, I I we put out a 30-year ship building plan, but we have to really be honest and say we we need to concentrate on five, 10, and then change for 15. This is a a a living document that we need to continually evolve and change to to based on what the industry can produce. And this is why we need to to look at every single lever, every single opportunity to make things better, faster through AI, through added manufacturing. Things will change a a great deal, sir.

▶ 2:13:42In 5, 10 years, it's going to be it's we're going to get the industry going and we will crank out these ships, including amphibious ships and and destroyers as as we need them.

▶ 2:13:52I like the positive thought, but I I was just looking at the recent fiscal year 27 budget. I noticed the LH8, LHA8 and nine are both a year behind now. Uh, and we obviously that's exactly what we're talking about right now is amphibious fleet. And I know the the positivity is there, but I'm looking for I don't care if we have to build ships overseas or whatever, but I want to bring that technology back. I want to bring that knowhow back. I want to work ethic back. I want to bring all the things back to America that made us the leaders in the world originally.

▶ 2:14:22What is the specific plan to get American production back on track? Love our ship workers, but something's broke for sure.

▶ 2:14:30That would be more shipyards, uh, Congressman, and and more getting the the the youth to come in. We're looking at 540,000 jobs in order to build all these ships, not just our warships, but also commercial ships. And that's that's what we need to invigorate, and that's what we need to get in there. That's why I'm so excited. again in a few weeks I will be able to come into your office and tell you hey in 24 hours we're going to we're going to announce this.

▶ 2:14:52I look forward to that. Right now China's out producing about 2001 and has about 50 times more ports. That's a problem. Thank you. And with that I

▶ 2:15:06Thank you Mr. Chairman and uh thank you all for being here today. It's good to see you. Um, Admiral, when the secretary was here, Secretary Hexath here a couple weeks ago, I asked him about the extension of the uh the USS Ford carrier strike group that had been extended. Uh, and I asked him, which I didn't think was a satisfactory answer that he gave, right?

▶ 2:15:29What did the Navy tell him when they were modifying the gift map to extend, you know, the forward going the to the Med and then down to South America and then obviously at the end here doing operations in the in the Persian Gulf, cross the equator multiple times. If there's a polywog left on that ship, it's going to surprise me.

▶ 2:15:51Um, but what what concerns did you raise during that process when they were modifying the gift map and and what are the ramifications going to be for it being extended out for over over 300

▶ 2:16:05Sir, if you uh if you Google me and extensions, you'll see extensive uh articles out there on my push back on extending any ship. It has detrimental impacts on our force readiness on families on sailors the quality of their life things that they miss and the wear and tear with and then just the additional cost. Uh but when we need military options for we have to utilize what we have.

▶ 2:16:32We fight with the navy we have and so we make those those risk apparent to the chairman. He carries those up echelon to the secretary of war. We clearly articulate the impacts of that and the hard decisions are made and when it's made we move out and then we conduct those operations and you see our sailors rise to that occasion

▶ 2:16:51and and I believe me I I know our sailors and our marines and all our forces right are going to rise. They're going to do what what needs to be done whenever the situation calls for it. I have no doubt about that. But you know when you look at the situation had two other carriers around there. You had an AR and another ARG on the way. Really was a did the Ford need to be there? Absolutely sir. 100%.

▶ 2:17:12Why is that? You know, why do we need why did we need more than one carrier group strike group there to kind of do it if if you know this wasn't the and to going back to historical times here, right? This wasn't the Japanese during World War II. This wasn't the Spanish Armada, you know, in the early like 16th century. This was a small naval force with the Iranians, right? This wasn't a huge military force that we were facing. Why did we need three strike groups in an ARG there to carry out this

▶ 2:17:42Sir, the planners at US Central Command and at fifth fleet go through detailed threat analysis to understand that the actual axis and threats directionality and the things that we can do as a combat force to make sure we have overlapping fires and protection for our forces requires a certain amount of force before as force elements roll in and out in a make before break fashion. So that rolling amount of force has to be put in place. We don't evacuate the theater of operations before the next one comes in.

▶ 2:18:11That scheme of maneuver is delicate. It's balanced and it's threat based. And so that's all put out in front of all of us. We all look at it and we concur with those schemes of

▶ 2:18:21All right. Well, thank you for that answer. But I again I don't think we needed it there. And I think it was more extended. You could add another carrier um than was needed. Um General, good to see you again. Hope your health is good. Yes, sir. I'm back to my fighting

▶ 2:18:35Good, good, good. Glad to hear it. Um, you know, I'm a Gator sailor. Very big on the ARG. Um, want to make sure that we we get to what you need to be. And I know you're kind of like you said, you're working towards this 3.0, but I didn't really get that that was really once we get there, that's where we need to be. What is it going to take beyond that where you're trying to get to right now to get to where you believe the Marine Corps and and the AR needs?

▶ 2:19:02because we are constantly again the they're asking for the carriers they're asking for the ARG out there right and right now we don't really I think have enough to to supply what's needed so what's going to be needed that you need to ensure that we can answer the call when needed

▶ 2:19:16well sir the the Marines have the capability to provide a constant 3.0 and zero argue presence. We again we have the squadrons, the infantry battalions, the artillery batteries. Um what we're working on in concert with Admiral Codle and the Navy is the ability to make our ships more ready to make what we have more ready because it's not just about the deployment, it's about the workup. Because as I often say, the first time you land on a pitching rolling deck shouldn't be at night on your way to a fight.

▶ 2:19:42You got to have a six-month workup or at least most of a six-month workup followed by a six-month deployment. And then you have to have downtime because those sailors and marines, they signed up to deploy, but they also have families and they want to come home. And so the ability to to man a 3.0 argu presence is really our and that comes down to how many amphibs can we have that are made ready. And Admiral Codle is doing everything he can do along with fleet forces command to increase the readiness of those amphibs

▶ 2:20:10gentleman's times expired here. And I recognize a gentleman from Wisconsin, Mr. Van Orton.

▶ 2:20:14Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, thanks for coming out today, Mick Pong. Great to see you back there. Uh, I just want to address a couple things. You know, I'm the longest serving enlisted guy to ever get elected to Congress in the history of the country, which means you can't lie to me. I got I got all your numbers. Um, okay. On the old Facebook sphere, I want to clear up some stuff. There's rumors going around with people my age that uh the the NEXs and PXs are closing on bases. Is that correct?

▶ 2:20:39Just say it out loud, man.

▶ 2:20:40Okay. I want everyone on Facebook to hear what the admiral just said. That

▶ 2:20:44if anything, we're improving them. Okay, thank you very much. That's really important. We got to dispel a lot of this stuff. General, congratulations on your uh passing your audit, but I'm going to tell you this. You guys are notorious for not asking for stuff, okay? So, you know, we're here to provide everything that our Marines need. And so, you got to ask. And I know I know it pains you guys terribly. I love the Marine Corps. Uh you just got to ask.

▶ 2:21:10So if you have onm deficits and Marines are buying equipment and all that sort of stuff, that is unacceptable and we'll we'll get your Marines everything they need.

▶ 2:21:19Thank you for ask. You're welcome.

▶ 2:21:21Uh Mr. Secretary, where are you from again? Where were you born?

▶ 2:21:25I was born in Vietnam.

▶ 2:21:27You were. And when did you learn to speak English?

▶ 2:21:30At the age of 12, Congressman.

▶ 2:21:31At the age of 12. So you came here from Vietnam and you became an American

▶ 2:21:36Yes, sir.

▶ 2:21:37And then you retired as a Navy captain?

▶ 2:21:39Yes, sir. Did any of that have to do with the fact that you're Vietnamese by

▶ 2:21:43No, sir, it did not.

▶ 2:21:44It did not. Did Did it have anything to do with the fact that you are could speak two different languages?

▶ 2:21:51No sir, it did not.

▶ 2:21:52It didn't. Why? Why did you retire as a

▶ 2:21:55Sir, I I I retired at the time because after what happened in Afghanistan, I just couldn't I I couldn't do it will answer your question. You retired as an '06 because of merit. because you earned that position. And I I do need to make it real clear to some of my colleagues that that is the the United States military is the last meritocracy and it has to rem that you were born in Vietnam. We don't care that you're a naturalized citizen.

▶ 2:22:25We don't care if you speak two languages. We don't care if you're a man or you're a woman, if you're black or you're Mexican. We don't care as long as the military maintains that. and my Navy um looks at people solely through the lens of meritocracy, then you're going to do great. Um I do want to bring up I'm going to echo what my friend uh Morgan Latrell said about uh suicide in the military and in the veterans. Uh I'm a chairman of subcommittee on VA.

▶ 2:22:55its economic opportunity and prevention of veteran suicide is one of my uh taskings and I'll be honest we are failing at it. Uh the predominant problem that I've had in the past is with the department of war. Um in the transition assistance program so our a lot of our veterans commit suicide within that first 24 months after getting out of the military because you lose your uniform, your rank and the joke with the wives is um twice the husband half the paycheck, you know.

▶ 2:23:22So, what I want from you guys, Admiral, in general, is I do want a commitment. I'm going to ask you for a commitment and from you, Mr. Secretary, that you're going to work with us at the Veterans Affairs Committee. And with Doug Collins, Doug and Pete signed, you know, an amazing uhou. And I really need followup on this because you're not making just sailors and you're not making Marines. You're making Americans and you're making strong American citizens. And we want to look at someone from the time they join the military.

▶ 2:23:52So in recruitment to the grave and I I just I want a public commitment from you guys that you're going to continue to work with us and really increase your efforts. Admiral, will you do that with

▶ 2:24:03Yes, sir. Fully committed to that.

▶ 2:24:05Mr. Secretary,

▶ 2:24:06sir, as a veteran and a retiree. Yes,

▶ 2:24:08Okay. General,

▶ 2:24:10sir, 100%.

▶ 2:24:11Okay. Um, I will echo some of my Democratic colleagues as as many ships as we can build in the United States. We want to build them. I understand that we have to go outside of our our lines of communications right now because uh we just have lost the capacity. But um I firmly believe that our American uh men and women, our tradesmen and women uh are the best in the world.

▶ 2:24:33So, as long as you guys are you're filling a gap that exists right now, but you're also focusing on making sure that we can build up our defense industrial base, particularly in the maritime arena. Um, I think that we're going to do the right thing. So, uh, welcome aboard again. I guess General, anything you guys need for your Marines, you ask, sir.

▶ 2:24:55We'll do, sir.

▶ 2:24:56And Admiral, take care of my navy, will

▶ 2:24:58We'll go, sir. Congressman, take care.

▶ 2:24:59If I may, sir. May,

▶ 2:25:01just real fast. Uh I know we keep everybody loves the Marine Corps. Marshia Marsha Marsha But the Navy the Navy has also uh is very close to finishing the working capital fund. We're months ahead and by next year we so we're going to finish that and then the general fund will be done next year. So the Department of Navy will be the first department in the Department of War to complete a a clean audit, sir.

▶ 2:25:22Excellent. Thank you. I yield.

▶ 2:25:25As is a gentle lady from New Hampshire, Miss Goodlander.

▶ 2:25:28Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you to our witnesses for your service to our country and for being here today. Mr. Cow, thank you for that very clear commitment that the Navy will be the first of the departments to pass a clean audit. You testified that part of your mission is to restore trust in the Navy and public trust depends upon a clean audit.

▶ 2:25:52So we look forward to the swift delivery on that most basic most basic requirement that any organization in the state I I represent would hold themselves to. Um so I I want to ask you along the lines of restoring trust a really basic question as I look at at the department's budget and where we could really crack down on waste, fraud, and abuse. Um I think a lot about the right to repair.

▶ 2:26:21Do you agree, Mr. Cow, that uh the Navy should be able to repair and maintain its own equipment,

▶ 2:26:29Congressman? Absolutely. We paid for a lot of this RDT. I mean, for my car, for example, I I I I don't have the right to repair because it Well, I mean, I you know, I I don't have the incidental property, but we paid for this RDT&E. So, the way I see it, it's our property as well, and we should have the right to repair this, ma'am.

▶ 2:26:45So, can I count on your support for our Warrior Right to Repair Act in this year's NDAA? Is that to repair equip uh our our repair or

▶ 2:26:55It's to cottify the right of our service members to repair and maintain their own

▶ 2:27:00Yes, ma'am.

▶ 2:27:01Thank you. I appreciate that and we really look forward to working with you on this. Um your predecessor had a had a clear commitment to this cause and uh really look forward to working with you on this. I want to turn to you Admiral. You you testified Thank you for your testimony on our public naval shipyards. You testified that the most important driver to improving shipyard performance is workforce retention, stability, and development.

▶ 2:27:27You also testified that this past year, we've seen higher than expected attrition and lower than planned new hires, which led to, as you put it, gaps in the engineering workforce and in critical trade shops. I want to I want to ask you uh for your commitment to work with us in this NDAA uh to put in place some of the most basic protections that the men and women of our shipyards need right now.

▶ 2:27:56We've their jobs that are already so difficult be made so much harder um by policies that are emanating from OPM and OM uh way out of the the chain of command that we need to see right now. So I I I would like to ask for your support for a provision that we're working to advance in this year's NDA which would do a simple thing.

▶ 2:28:19It would pro prohibit the use of funds uh federal funds for carrying out a hiring freeze, a reduction in force or delay without cause in hiring at a public shipyard. We secured that on a bipartisan basis last year. Um and want to ask for your support and commitment to securing that again this year.

▶ 2:28:38Uh Congresswoman, anything that protects the over 37,000 shipyard workers at our four public yards, you have my full commitment on. They are a national treasure and I'm fully committed to make sure they don't lose their job and make sure they're properly compensated as

▶ 2:28:53How how far below uh the planned new hires were we this past fiscal year?

▶ 2:28:59I'd have to get you the exact number, but you can think of a number like I would say like a thousand kind of number in that order of magnitude, but I but I'll take that for the record and get you the exact figure.

▶ 2:29:10I appreciate that and would love to be kept closely updated on this. This shouldn't be so difficult. We have people all across this country in my home state who are eager to serve and the red tape and the bureaucratic nonsense is harming our readiness um and really setting us back so unnecessarily. So I appreciate your commitment. Mr. Cow, can we count on your commitment to work with us on this on these

▶ 2:29:37Absolutely, ma'am.

▶ 2:29:38Thank you. I I want to turn uh finally to the submarine industrial base. You know, New Hampshire small businesses are critical suppliers to our submarine industrial base. And what I've seen again and again is that our second and third tier suppliers have been challenged by a whole range of factors.

▶ 2:29:58Um, in last year's NDAA, we had a provision that directed the Navy to provide a briefing to this committee no later than January 31st, 2026 to better understand what tools are available to support our second and third tier industrial-based suppliers. We still haven't received that briefing. Can can you commit to us that we'll get that briefing this month?

▶ 2:30:21We will uh work on that as soon as we can, ma'am.

▶ 2:30:24Okay. Can we expect before the end of of this month?

▶ 2:30:29If you mean two weeks, I'll have to look at it. Ma'am, I

▶ 2:30:31gentle lady's time's expired. Chair and I recognize gentleman from Virginia, Mr.

▶ 2:30:36Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, I'd like to thank our witnesses for being here with us today. Um, I want to start by recognizing the sailors and marines of the USS Gerald R. Ford's strike group after a historic

▶ 2:30:48You need to pull that microphone a little bit closer. Thank you, sir.

▶ 2:30:50Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, I want to start by recognizing the sailors and marines of the USS Gerald R. Ford Strike Group. After a historic record set in deployment, they're finally almost home to Virginia. Um, this was a historic trip and the it was they basically were deployed almost a year because we have atrophied in so many ways and uh the our the CCP for example has more submarines, they have more ships, more airplanes, more tanks than us and which is why this budget is so important.

▶ 2:31:21This budget gives our sailors and marines the resources they need to do the job the nation asked with them without having to stretch the fleet to a breaking point. And Secretary Cal, both the Navy and the Marine Corps met recruiting goals last year uh and you are on track to do it again this year. What would you say is the driving factors for the recruiting success and are your quality of life efforts making an impact on retention?

▶ 2:31:47So the main thing is the leadership. They know that we have their backs now, and that's what's so important. Look, our our enlisted ranks are are the backbone of this military. This is you you can talk about the Chinese fleet all you all day long, but they don't have what we have. The secret sauce is in our enlisted ranks. Uh it's that's that's the the really the what drives our military. You can be an E9 in the Chinese Navy and all you can do is sweep the floor. But here, our our E3s are our plane captains on the USS Gerald Dar Ford.

▶ 2:32:17This is the difference, sir.

▶ 2:32:20Okay. Uh, Admiral Codell, I know there have been many conversations and questions over the past few days regarding the news that the Trump class battleship will be nuclearpowered. And as you know, Virginia has a long history of nuclear ship building. What specific design plans can you share at this point and could speak to how nuclear power would enable uh this system to be Sir, we walked away from surface nuclear power decades ago, and that was one of the largest mistakes the Navy ever did, and we're bringing it back.

▶ 2:32:48We need nuclearpowered surface ships to sustain combat operations with our nuclearpowered aircraft carriers. Imagine what that would have looked like in the Arabian Gulf if I'd had a nuclearpowered battleship there to give the air and defense and fires power that it could sustain while I rotate, you know, ships that roll that need gasoline around it. So the the imperative for this is crucial to develop that level of payload capacity.

▶ 2:33:14We intend to with all we can do use pullthrough technologies things from that we've worked on with DDGX. It will have the spy 6 radar. It will have the baseline 10 Aegis combat system. It will pull through of course the A1B Ford class reactor plant and all the design that goes with that. The only thing inherently new to it will be the actual hole itself. And so most of the fixtures in it and I would say the directed energy and upging that will also be new.

▶ 2:33:42Awesome. And uh for the combatant General Smith, talk to me about how important it is to have more amphibious

▶ 2:33:49Well, sir, as I've said, the the amphibious ready group marine expeditionary unit is the Swiss Army knife of the joint force. It can do a little bit of everything. Uh it it is a combat formation that is deployable globally. It can move hundreds of miles in a day. It can conduct non-combatant evacuation operations. It can conduct strike. It can conduct humanitarian assistance, disaster relief. It is it is the Swiss Army knife of the joint force. And it is the most second most called for item in the DoD inventory by the combatant commanders.

▶ 2:34:17We love the Marine Corps.

▶ 2:34:19And by the way, Admiral, really appreciate you and the secretary and what we're doing to take care of our Navy and uh our Navy sailors and our Marines. And by the way, BWXT, as you know, is in my district, but we also have ATDM acceler advanced training defense manufacturing. And we talked about that earlier and we talked about how we have a need to step up our game and how many ships how important is are places like ATDM?

▶ 2:34:43I just need to rinse, lather, and repeat, sir. I need them all over the country. You know, people ask me what they can do to bolster our defense and maritime industrial base. That's the model. And so I need more of that so that we can expand the recruiting pallet that the shipyards, you know, recruit from. Most shipyard workers come within five to 10, 15 miles from the shipyard. We need to have uh countrywide recruiting and development and that's part of that plan that we need to do.

▶ 2:35:09Well, I agree with the secretary and I agree with my friend Derek Van Norton here is that we want to build all ships and submarines and things in the United States, but we have atrophied for whatever reason. So, partner, we have to have partners, go there, learn what they're doing, and grow the American defense industrial base. We really appreciate all of your services. Thank you so much.

▶ 2:35:29Daddy, yield back.

▶ 2:35:30Gentlemen yields back. Chair and I recognize Jen Lee from California. Miss

▶ 2:35:34Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, uh, Secretary Cow, um, the think tank CSIS estimates Operation EpicFury cost roughly $900 million a day, about $3.7 billion in the first 100 hours, with 10 to 16 billion in munitions fired in the first 4 days. Your FY27 budget requests 82.6 billion for operations and maintenance from this committee.

▶ 2:35:59What portion of that is just buying back what we shot in Epic Fury versus funding the Navy's readiness going forward?

▶ 2:36:06Congresswoman, thank you for that question. None of this budget was built before Epic Fury. Uh and and this is why we will require require supplemental in order to pay for all the munitions and and the uh operations and maintenance uh that comes with it.

▶ 2:36:22Okay. Because, you know, with the fleet already 20,000 sailors short on sea I'm concerned that this $340 billion is not actually going to be what you need in terms of buying the ships, the sailors, the magazine depth to sustain what will likely be a sustained sentcom presence for years in the straight of Hormuse.

▶ 2:36:43So, can you commit to deliver to this committee um the department's current assessment of commercial shipping transit through the strait under US escort Iranian acquiescence or or neither along with the Navy's force generation plan for sustaining the presence required through FY27?

▶ 2:37:01Congress, we will provide whatever information you need. Again, this is still an ongoing operation. Uh, as of yesterday, they're still they're still launching over a hundred uh oneman uh one-way attack drones and more than three dozen three or four dozen cruise missiles at us. So, the operations are still going on, you know, even though there's a ceasefire, they're still firing at us, ma'am.

▶ 2:37:24Sure. I mean, but the the president said it was over and now you're saying it's ongoing. So you can understand why we as the committee that's trying to figure out what you're actually going to need some more information from you all.

▶ 2:37:38Yes, ma'am. Absolutely. But yes, the our operations our kinetic operations have finished. We're just protecting other people and that's that's what we're doing with that. The the the Iranians are still shooting at at allied shipping and and uh and just being belligerent,

▶ 2:37:53Okay. Well, well, we we would like to know what you all in the Navy are going to need to sustain either this US escort presence or this blockade or, you know, whatever we're doing. So, please um get that to us. Um General Smith, as you know, I represent San Diego, the largest military community in the country. There are many reports of strain of the strain on our Marine and Navy families across San Diego. Um we know Marines are trained for accelerated departure. You guys are first out.

▶ 2:38:22this is what you train for, but that doesn't make it any easier on the families and especially with the lack of information on timelines. And you know, I talked to one family support counselor who described the current situation in San Diego as panic and worry uh at levels they had not seen in recent years. And honestly, the family members I talked to, they don't know what support systems are available to them while their family members are deployed.

▶ 2:38:47What specific resources, family readiness programs, mental health support, chaplain services, etc. are currently funded and active for the families of the 11th MW? Ma'am, the the 11th MU has family readiness coordinators who are active duty uh members who support the families who are back home and then they have a family support network which is comprised of the spouses who are who are going to keep a phone tree so to speak to keep themselves informed and then the command has the responsibility to keep those families

▶ 2:39:17informed via those uh via those coordinators.

▶ 2:39:21Okay. Well, whatever is happening is not enough. Families are not getting what they need. And I'm I'm glad you brought up the family readiness coordinators. Um I asked Lieutenant General Bowers this at a military personnel subcommittee last month, but there's been recent news that the Marine Corps is phasing out its civilian personnel and family readiness program. These positions are needed now more than ever. Um these coordinators work with commanders to provide insight on quality of life for Marines and their families, relay information to spouses.

▶ 2:39:49Can you provide an update to me on these coordinators? Have you reconsidered this decision to phase out these positions?

▶ 2:39:56Ma'am, I'll have to come back to you on

▶ 2:39:57Okay. Well, I really hope that you do because we cannot make this responsibility a collateral duty for our Marines. We will undermine both missions. Our our families need to get this information. They need to get this so that our Marines can do their jobs. Um and you know, my my community is paying the brunt of this right now. And it is really really hard on our community and on our families. So, I hope that you'll do everything you can to make sure they're getting the support that they need. Mr. Chairman, I yield

▶ 2:40:26Gentle lady yields back. Chair now recognizes a gentleman from Indiana, Mr. Mesmer. Uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for our witnesses for being here today. Secretary Cow, the US Navy's 2026 ship building plan says distributed ship building is about 10% today and the goal is to get to 50%. Since I've been in Congress, I've advocated for a distributed model that leverages industrial capacity in the Midwest and in the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys. Uh what is going to be the actual metric you will use to measure that 50% goal?

▶ 2:40:54Is it dollars, tonnage, modules, and when should we expect to see some real movement in that?

▶ 2:41:00Congressman, uh Congressman, I I would love for us to build ships along the Mississippi River and modules floated down and put together down in the the Gulf of America. I will defer to the secretary do the Cino uh for the metrics that you need

▶ 2:41:15and congressman you know I think all those metrics have to be measured cost performance indices have to be looked at but I think the best one is the module count and it's how we distribute those modules to different uh uh manufacturers to be able to put that together. The yards today keep records on that and graphics on that and metrics on that and to me that's the best uh way that we'll actually measure that modularity approach. Okay.

▶ 2:41:38If we're going to get to 50% of distributed work, how are we going to incentivize the primes to give up the uh work share that they historically have done in-house or inside to keep uh their legacy supplier base intact? How are we going to incentivize it? You going to mandate it? I mean, how are we going to get from where we are today to more modules?

▶ 2:42:01Well, you know, that's only come through collaboration and partnerships, contractual strategies that incentivize uh talking about how they, you know, we actually improve refacilitization with additional partners to actually get into the game. I think there's a concern that they can't deliver and they'll become the critical path because they're inability to deliver the module. So, we need to like prototype that and make sure that these additional manufacturers can do that.

▶ 2:42:24build confidence and then when when the actual demand signal gets there and they and the prime yards realize they're actually making more money by this approach, I think it'll solve

▶ 2:42:35Okay, very good. Um, Mr. Secretary, uh, your ship building plan says the department accepted proprietary locked in and undervalued its IP rights in ways that degraded organic maintenance. is part of that reason is that part of the reason the Navy Navy still struggles to sustain the legacy spy one radar systems.

▶ 2:43:00Congressman, again, Spy One, a lot of the pieces and parts are no longer uh constructed, but again, I you're right. We need to have the right to repair. We need to be able to get get in there. Our our sailors are so just so talented and they they can fix anything. I've seen this with my own eyes in in combat where if something goes down, they're they're working all day and all night to get these things up and going and it's just very difficult to get a contractor out there in the middle while you're getting shot out at the in the streets of Hamoose.

▶ 2:43:29So, u Yes, sir. This is why we need to make sure that we have

▶ 2:43:32right to repair is very critical. Thank you, Admiral Codle. Is the USS Zumalt still on track to conduct the first float conventional prop strike test in 2027? And what's your realistic timeline timeline for that weapon system to reach initial operation capability?

▶ 2:43:48Sir, I think it is on track to do that test and I think it's IOC for that will be uh probably in the in the late part of this decade before I would claim that it's fully ready and operational.

▶ 2:43:59Okay. Uh reporting indicates the Navy is considering replacing the spy 3 radar with a spy 6. Will this shift uh create additional schedule or cost risk for CPS fielding and delay the Navy's plan to bring the full Zumalt class online with the hypersonic capability?

▶ 2:44:17Not according to our plan. And so, you know, we're working hard to make sure that that stays out of the critical path for the delivery of Zumalt's capability.

▶ 2:44:25Okay. uh with only three ships in this class, can the Navy realistically meet the Indopaccom present requirements for the uh for this weapon system or is force simply too small to provide persistent operational impact?

▶ 2:44:37So, we're looking at crewing models for that to make sure that we're doing that right. You can see that it's almost a natural fit to what we did with SSGN's where we had a blue and gold crew for that. So I'm looking at different models to actually maximize our operational availability of a three ship class to actually keep one on station most of the time and then rotate changes of command in theater.

▶ 2:44:58Okay. Thank you. Uh Secretary Cow, the Navy has clearly uh prioritized uh lowcost atcale hypersonic systems with $ 1.6 billion budget request to procure four 4,157 uh MACE missiles. Can you highlight how multi-year procurement acquisitions have made this purchase possible and and how how we we could be applied to

▶ 2:45:18other multi you guys allowing us to do multi-year uh procurement has really opened up the the aperture for industry to actually invest into their their uh their development and as well as give them the stable

▶ 2:45:32gentleman's time's expired here and I recognize gentle lady from Maryland miss

▶ 2:45:37thank you Mr. Thank you Mr. Secretary. Um, I think you're hearing the bipartisan nature. I don't think I've been in a committee hearing that is this bipartisan, especially on the ship building front. I'd like to remind everybody that I represent Coastg Guard Yard Baltimore, not not yours, but they help you on occasion. 130year uh yard that uh sometimes has three generations of workers who have been uh supporting this work. And as we think about easy ecosystems to tap into to meet this demand, I'd like to have that conversation, Mr.

▶ 2:46:04Secretary, if you'd be willing to have it in the next few weeks about Yes, ma'am. I think in a few weeks we will be talking uh intimately about some of these things.

▶ 2:46:12Perfect. Another bipartisan uh issue you're hearing is this commitment to actually getting to our goal with Amphibs. And I know that the the budget right now has 6.2 billion for submarines, 7.2 for nuclear ship builder productivity, 6.7 for surface ships combined in terms of the industrialbased uh investments. But I'm I'm struggling to find our industrial base investments for Amphib. So where in the budget uh Mr.

▶ 2:46:36Secretary or Admiral, is the Navy specifically investing to protect amphibious ship building capacity at Engles from being displaced from competing interests?

▶ 2:46:46Well, I I think that's all part of the broader MIB money. So, I don't know that that Engles called out that it's not being part of that. I can get you the detail of what percentage itself is getting of that, but they're certainly part of that. They're crucial to this.

▶ 2:46:59I'd appreciate just that. I think that level of detail will help assuage some of the concern on on on both sides of the aisle. Um, Mr. Secretary, I want to congratulate your family in advance on your son being commissioned next week. I wish I could be there. Votes have been called uh on Friday. I represent the United States Naval Academy uh on the board as well as a few other members of this committee. Um, and I'm sure I know, thank you for being there. The superintendent told me you've spent a lot of time there.

▶ 2:47:22understand obviously how incredibly important it is to the nation, but also uh it's suffering from a vulnerability that a lot of by nature of Marine and Navy bases being close to water is is suffering from a real challenge which is flooding. Um we are fighting right now. I'm going to leave to try to get some some extra funding for the Naval Academy 86 million it needs just to be able to keep classes running on time. Um what's happening though is as I'm sure you know the urgency of flooding.

▶ 2:47:49we don't need to argue about the cause that's happening is displacing some other really important infrastructure needs across our our Navy and marine bases including the Naval Academy. This is just the reality of the situation. So we were making you know good decent progress on it so far. I was a little surprised to see that the fiscal year 27 budget reduces domestic storm water compliance funding by approximately onethird from where we were in last fiscal year. And again the seas are going to keep rising.

▶ 2:48:15They're going, these projects are going to push out other important infrastructure priorities because we have to address them now. And I just want to flag for everybody at this table that I would love to see a more ambitious approach to protecting our bases from from nuisance flooding, sunny day flooding. You're going to see at the Naval Academy. I I think we need to be a little more aggressive and concerted when it comes to flooding. I do want to move on with my time um to an opportunity. That was the challenge, an opportunity.

▶ 2:48:43Switching gears entirely, uh, Pax River in Maryland um, has the largest anacoic chamber in the country. We're very proud of it. I want to thank you all for your investments in it over the years. You probably don't know it's so popular it has a yearslong backlog for testing. Um, I think this is the moment when we're thinking about our capabilities, especially with our adversaries, you know, catching up that we should think about a second anacoic chamber just to relieve some of the pressure of that testing. I would love to invite you all to come down to Pax River.

▶ 2:49:12I know Congressman Hoyer has been this has been his life's work to come down and see that anacoic chamber. Can I have a a you know time is of the essence, but I I understand you're busy. I would love to to show you that and try to figure out a way to to get that second anacoic chamber built for for our war fighters.

▶ 2:49:28Yes, ma'am. We we'll we'll get down

▶ 2:49:30You definitely have my commitment to come. You know, if I'm if that's in the critical path of holding back things when we need another one, I'll certainly look at it.

▶ 2:49:36Okay. I I really appreciate And I think there's a way to get this privately and and and publicly funded and and get the best deal for our war fighters. Um I have one more question that I'm just going to off the cuff this because we've been talking about partnering with our allies like Finland and Korea to meet the moment that we is required of all of us to get this ship building kickstarted again in this country. If you were sitting on our side of the table though, I think you heard some skepticism and some intrigue.

▶ 2:50:03How do we get you to to tie your hands that you're actually going to bring those jobs back to the states? We're going to go overseas, get that, you know, training, but we need to bring that capability back so we can expand our own industrial base. How would you tie your own hands?

▶ 2:50:20Ma'am, again, we're Americans and we need to build things in America as much as possible. But right now, even uh the ATS, the uh the auxiliary tug salvage, it's been on we we've had a need for this since 2016. is still not built yet. I mean, that's a salvage ship. I mean, it's a tugboat. Really, a large tugboat. And that's why we need to to to look at every single aspect.

▶ 2:50:39Your lady's time's expired. Chair and I recognize gentle lady from South Carolina, Miss Mace.

▶ 2:50:45Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to our witnesses for being here today. South Carolina's Low Country is home to critical marine and naval assets. Joint Base Charleston hosts essential naval naval tenant commands, including the Naval Nuclear Power Training Command and Training Unit Charleston and the Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic. We've been making Marines at Paris Island since 1915 and just up the road at the Marine Corps Air Station Bufort host and trains active duty F-35 and FA18 Hornet squadrons.

▶ 2:51:13When we hear them flying overhead, we say it's a sound of freedom in South Carolina. Our community is incredibly supportive of our servicemen and service women and proud to play such an important role in our national defense and there is still room to grow. So my first question today is for General Smith. As part of the barracks 2030 initiatives, what improvements can we see to recruit barracks at Paris Island?

▶ 2:51:37Ma'am, that is one of my highest priorities is getting those recruit barracks up to snuff because frankly they're not. We still have to maintain open squad base who we are. That's how we make Marines, but we have to improve the quality of those barracks because they are getting ancient.

▶ 2:51:51Are we making progress on it?

▶ 2:51:52We are, ma'am, but we're never making fast enough progress. As you know, the workforce in in the coastal Carolinas is really the challenge. Mhm.

▶ 2:51:59It's about making sure that they can be guaranteed steady, predictable work for years to come so they don't go to work for the auto industry or go to work somewhere else because once you lose that workforce, you don't.

▶ 2:52:09And any idea like timeline you think or how long this will take?

▶ 2:52:12Ma'am, it's going to be multiple years.

▶ 2:52:14Um, and General Smith, can you speak to the importance of funding the completion cost of new aircraft maintenance hangers at MCCAST Buford?

▶ 2:52:21Oh, yes, ma'am. Marine Corps Air Station Buford is is our hub. Those those maintenance hangers are absolutely required for our F-35s.

▶ 2:52:28Do you have enough funding for them?

▶ 2:52:30We do, ma'am. We can always use more, but we do have enough funding right now to make those maintenance hangers a reality. But again, it comes down to who can build those maintenance hangers. On what schedule can they build them? Because those maintenance hangers, you know, otherwise,

▶ 2:52:44are you struggling with finding the

▶ 2:52:46finding the right employees and right contractors to do that work? Because those F-35s, if they're sitting out in the sun, they're degrading. They need to be inside of a maintenance hanger to be able. Right.

▶ 2:52:57Yes, ma'am. Or in the rain. So,

▶ 2:52:59um Okay. In fiscal year 26, Congress allocated the first trunch of funding for the nuclear power training facility simulation expansion at Joint Base Charleston. So, Admiral Codle, um can you speak to the status of this and the impact this will have on readiness and personnel and the personnel pipeline? I can't give you where it is on the timeline, so I can take that for the record, but I can certainly tell you how vital it is.

▶ 2:53:22I mean, it's crucial to generating our nuclear propulsion students and uh it's critical path for us building our submarines and our car aircraft carriers. So, it's much appreciated and it's inherent to the nuclear power pipeline training. But where that project is, I can get you the data.

▶ 2:53:36Well, they're very excited about it uh down there. So over the last uh several years under the DHA model, we've seen Bufort Naval Hospital transition from an inpatient treatment facility to an ambulatory care center. This has resulted in many recruits and Marines being referred out to the into the community, potentially leading to delays in care and a strain on the community health system. Um General Smith, how has this service change impacted how has it impacted the timely treatment of recruits at Paris Island and Marines at MCCast Bufort?

▶ 2:54:04Well, ma'am, anytime and especially in recruit training, anytime you have to send a recruit off of the depot to get care, you're you're exceeding or you're increasing the time they're spending away from training and you're increasing the time it takes to build and make a marine. So, we obviously are in favor of having things onboarded onto our bases, but we also recognize that there's a limited number of of physicians and nurses in the Naval uh medical corps, and we're struggling mightily to make sure we recruit enough of them and retain them, frankly.

▶ 2:54:35And then, acting Secretary Chow, uh, given the need for the timely access to care for our recruits and Marines and the needs of the service, what do you believe the future of Bufort Naval Hospital should or will look like? Congresswoman, uh again down in um Paris Island, my my dear friend uh uh Brigider General Williamson has done a great deal to to make sure our recruits go down there get get the proper medical care and going back to also housing.

▶ 2:55:00It's not just about the barracks for our sailor, our Marines, but also the instructors uh that we can't have them living, you know, an hour out where where they can't afford it where, you know, and drive in every day because they're they're really on call 24 hours a And that's what General Williamson's done so hard, you know, he's worked so hard to to partner with the uh privatized housing uh partners in order to to provide good housing for our instructors.

▶ 2:55:27We are the fastest growing state in the country and therefore the cost of housing has risen exponentially over the years. So thank you gentlemen for your testimony today and I yield back.

▶ 2:55:37Gentle lady yields back. Chair now recognized gentleman from Virginia, Mr.

▶ 2:55:41Thank you chairman. Thank you to our witnesses here. First, let me start by saying um General Smith um I fully endorse uh MEU um MU 3.0 and the um uh force generating capabilities that come out of Quantico to support that concept, a base that I'm uh privileged and proud to represent uh thousands of Marines and Marine families. So, um it's a real gem and I hope we continue to invest in that

▶ 2:56:09It is a crossroads of the core, sir, as you know. Yes, sir.

▶ 2:56:12It's our own door education system.

▶ 2:56:14Um, just switching gears now, I want to talk a little bit about uh the Navy's navigation plan 2022, which defines distributed maritime operations as dispersing the fleet to deny adversaries targetable concentrations of forces. In fact, I believe Admiral Cardell, you referred to this sort of framework in your opening statement. Does DMO remain operative doctrine or has the department abandoned it?

▶ 2:56:38No, it remains operative. You know, it's it's the Navy's way to say expand and maneuver this part of the joint war fighting concept. Thank you.

▶ 2:56:45It underwrites the way we do business.

▶ 2:56:46Thank you. So, the 2026 2026 ship building plan describes the Trump class battleship as a forward command and control platform leading a surface action group. Does concentrating command authority offensive fires nuclear reactor into a single 35,000 ton hull advance DMO's core principle of denying adversaries high value targets? Mr.

▶ 2:57:10Congressman, the nuclear battleship would basically be able to bring firepower very quickly to a place. I mean, we were able to move the Ford carrier strike group from the Ford went from Venezuela to the Mediterranean.

▶ 2:57:21I got it. But you're concentrating all of that into one hole at uh one one massive hull. And so I'm a former army guy. I'm not an expert in naval warfare. Uh but I'm going to quote uh retired Admiral uh James Stritus, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander who wrote in Bloomberg about the proposed battleship that given today's drone swarms, stealthy submarines, hypersonic missiles, advanced torpedoes, offensive cyber weapons, putting lots of eggs in a handful of baskets doesn't make sense.

▶ 2:57:52China can field dozens of DF26 ballistic missiles for under uh a billion dollars. that uh these are really about $20 million per missile. A single Trump class battleship is estimated to cost 17 billion. What is the department's assessment of that cost exchange ratio? And has any independent war game concluded that a vessel costing 1,000 times more than the missile designed to sink it represents a sound investment?

▶ 2:58:21Congressman, we talked about these hypersonics and all the missiles that can sink up, but the ship is going over one nautical mile a minute. There's no hypersonic that can change course that quickly. And this is why we need this a large we've had this requirement.

▶ 2:58:34Have there been studies that have determined that?

▶ 2:58:36We we've had requirements again. I would love to see that because I and I'm sure others are skeptical of making a mass investment in a system that is literally uh 1,000 times more more expensive than the missiles designed to to sink it. So I would love to see that work being done. Now the survivability here rests on lasers, rail guns, and interceptors that don't exist yet. Is that correct,

▶ 2:59:04Congress? It's still the ship as it is right now can defend itself. I mean it's got 200 VLS cells from

▶ 2:59:10rail guns. Do we have rail guns that are actually functional right now? Lasers and other

▶ 2:59:15That's for future Congressman. Right now the ship as it is has has 200 VLS cells that goes in block two to SM6 and SM3.

▶ 2:59:23Since we're talking about the president um the president has demanded delivery by 2028. The current plan shows an order placed in 2036. Are you committing to deliver the battleship by 2028 or what is the delivery time frame here?

▶ 2:59:41Sir, I think that it's realistic that that's a mid 2030 delivery when we since we've made it nuclear. And yes, there are rail guns in existence. That's it's a linear motor. There's no physics complexity there. And to scale that on the battleship is long overdue. I can send a five a 50 lb projectile 500 miles from it at multiple repetitive rates. The asymmetric capability of that battleship is unmatched. And if I don't protect units, nothing across the joint force works, including B-21 or anything else.

▶ 3:00:10So counter targeting is essential to all survivability of all elements of the joint force. So this is this is my concern Admiral and secretary is that this is uh a a u a aesthetics or a uh a project for the president that does not meet the current threat environment that we've seen in the Black Sea and repeatedly and I will do I'll give you one pitch is that if you're going to develop these capabilities come see what's available in Dalgrren because that is where

▶ 3:00:40a tremendous amount of the Navy's R&D and so much place is going to come from Dolder. Thank you,

▶ 3:00:48Mr. Bacon. You're recognized.

▶ 3:00:51Thank you. I appreciate all three of you being here. I was thinking those two up there were going to go ahead of me, but I'm ready. Admiral Codle, could you tell us a little about the USS Ford deployment? I understand it was out for 10 or 11 months. Uh, could you just take a little time to brag on the crew and

▶ 3:01:06Sir, thank you for that. You know, it is an incredible record-breaking deployment. Hasn't been that long one that long since the Vietnam War. That's a backhanded compliment to the Navy. On one side, I wish I had more capacity to flow additional strike groups into theater, but on the other hand, the durability and the way we construct our ships actually shows what can be done with that new class. World record sorted generation rate on that on that uh that class some uh aircraft carrier. Started out, of course, down in South America with Absolute Resolve in Southern Spear.

▶ 3:01:36Sorted immediately into the Mediterranean and picked up right into Epic Fury. did five Suez uh uh canal transits. Wow. Had a major fire on board and sustained operations three day afterwards and uh and is just uh you know kickass and took names every single day. So we're going to give her a hero's welcome back on Saturday and uh it's just an extraordinary ship, extraordinary crew, an extraordinary strike group and the sailors I could not be more proud of.

▶ 3:02:02Could you say explain a little bit about how you resupply because there was some I believe misinformation on some of the food and things like that, but if you set the record straight and how you resupply, I'd be grateful. We monitor class one food on our ships and our strike groups. Um, you know, every single day I get a report on it every day. The lowest I've seen is four days of the cyclic menu. That means they're in their normal menu serving what they're supposed to serve with four days still remaining. That's the lowest. We try to keep it above in the teens.

▶ 3:02:32And we're doing that from Dio Garcia and of course in the Mediterranean, ports from the Mediterranean. And so, uh, those those things are continuing to roll. It's offensive to me that people put out that are culinary specialists serve food that's not nutritious, that doesn't look appetizing, and it's not world class. So, the way we do culinary arts on board our ships. And if anyone's ever served on a Navy ship knows that it's world class. That's completely

▶ 3:02:56I did one tour in 96 in the Persian Gulf and I knew I had to work out because there was good food on there. Had to find a place to work out on the on the where I could and but I just want to take a moment to praise the men and women on the USS Fort and all the folks that you know the battle staff that accompany that. And I want to praise the families too. You know they didn't expect a 10-month or 11month deployment. They expected probably six months and and so we appreciate the service and sacrifice.

▶ 3:03:24I got a follow on question dealing with the tackamo. I appreciate the mission of the tackamo. I'm from offet air force base commanded the base. I used to fly on the looking glass mission when I was a one star. I understand that this mission is going to a C130 and the air force has picked up this mission. Could you talk a little bit about whether it's the secretary or the admiral? How are you going to do this transition to the air force? Do we have a plan yet? Well, you know, we can share the answer here. I'll kick off.

▶ 3:03:51But, you know, our E6B Mercury is aging out 707. You know, it's it's a it's been a challenge to keep it maintained, a depot, and we've we've, you know, run the wings off of that. So, as we bring in the E130J as a program of record for that, we will transition the Tacomao portion of that mission command over to that airframe. You know, the Air Force still has the abcap mission. That's what you're referring to.

▶ 3:04:15And so the I think it's there's an imperative there and a mandate that the Air Force determine how they're going to provide the ANACAP mission to US strategic command. I look forward to working with the Air Force on that. There's a lot of solutions that we could do collaboratively to that to make that a joint solution and so I can be part of that discussion. You know, for the record, we have weapons that can hit us in 15 minutes and there's future technology that's even worse.

▶ 3:04:39We need a airborne or some kind of emergency airborne command and control that can respond if the White House, Pentagon or Stratcom is hit. And that's what this looking glass mission is. I've been a part of it. And I just want to make sure that the Pentagon, not just the Navy and the Air Force, do we have a plan? Because it's all about nuclear command and control deterrence there. One last question with my remaining 50 seconds. We're burning through SM6s and SM2s. like every the first day of the war is probably two or three months worth of production.

▶ 3:05:09How do we get to the point? Well, we're going to have to do something different here where we're doubling production lines. Are do we have a plan, Congressman? Yes, we do. Uh we're we're looking at even just to to reertify these munitions. Like for example, the tomahawk, you know, look, I came I grew up poor. Things don't just expire, right? Just because the contractor said it does. you know, bread, you roll, rub some water in it, microwave 15 seconds, it's ready to eat.

▶ 3:05:34So, likewise, we were able to reertify hundreds uh of of of tomahawk missiles to launch out there for uh from class echo and foxtrot to November. And likewise with resertification of the standard missiles, that's what we did, sir.

▶ 3:05:47We need to double production, I believe, and we got to have a budget to do it. With that, I yield back.

▶ 3:05:54Thank you, Mr. Bald. You're recognized.

▶ 3:05:57Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the witnesses for being here today. Secretary Cow, last week I sent you a bipartisan biccameal letter regarding the effort to relocate the Missouri Army, National Guard, Marine Corps reserves, and Navy reserve units currently located on 34 acres of property at St. Louis Lambert International Airport. The current facilities are outdated and need to be replaced with modernized long-term facilities.

▶ 3:06:27At the same time, these units must be relocated in order to in order for Lambert to move forward with its multi-billion dollar modernization and expansion project. In return, Lambert has identified a new larger par parcel of land to serve as the permanent long-term location for the Guard and Marine Corps units.

▶ 3:06:49While the Missouri National Guard has identified historic buildings at Jefferson Barracks Air National Guard station that can be renovated to support the Navy Reserve mission, interim facilities would be used until those permanent locations are completed. The Missouri Army National Guard and Marine Corps Reserve have already expressed support for the temporary relocation proposal, including the use of interim facilities in North St. Louis.

▶ 3:07:16However, the Navy Reserve has not yet agreed to move forward with the temporary relocation plan despite the significant economic and infrastructure implications associated with delaying the Lam Lambert expansion product project. Therefore, the proposal cannot move forward. This is not simply an airport issue. This project represents one of the largest economic development and modernization efforts in the St.

▶ 3:07:43Louis region and delays could have major downstream impacts on construction timelines, regional growth and future investment. The St. Louis region is a is a center of innovation, a major defense and manufacturing hub and plays a critical role in strengthening our national security. St. Louis has shown that we are a reliable partner and we are asking that you all be a reliable partner in return.

▶ 3:08:10So today, I'm asking you to personally look into the issue and work with the NA Navy Reserve to understand the necessity and urgency of this temporary relocation and will you commit to having your staff work with my office and local stakeholders to help resolve the current stalemate and move this project forward?

▶ 3:08:30Congressman, we will answer your your uh letter and and we will work with you,

▶ 3:08:35Thank you. Um and then Secretary Cow, the Navy's um FAXX program will play a critical role in maintaining carrier airwing superiority against increasingly advanced threats in the Indo-acific.

▶ 3:08:49Given its importance, how is the Navy coordinating with the Air Force on sixth generation fighter development to ensure inter interoperability were appropriate while avoiding unnecessary duplication and inefficiencies between FAXX and NGA efforts? Congressman, thank you for that question. We This is why we're we're uh uh having the under secretary of war for acquisition sustainment be kind of the arbitrator, make sure we're not making the same mistakes.

▶ 3:09:18uh or well I mean not just learning from the air force what they're doing and by the end of the summer we will have a down select for the FAXX so they can we move forward again learning from the air force we will be able to accelerate and move that program out uh further I mean again carry airwing if you saw in epic fury and uh you know absolute resolve that's that's the best way to get firepower downrange quickly and and the F-35 has done amazingly well but we need a sixth generation aircraft that to thwart the threat, sir.

▶ 3:09:49Thank you. I yield back.

▶ 3:09:53Mr. Higgins, you're recognized for five

▶ 3:09:55Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Secretary Cal, much of the discussion around maritime industrial base focuses on major shipyards, but smaller regional ship builders are critical to meeting Navy demands. Um, I think we can agree with that statement. And in the interest of time, can I can I humbly request a a meeting, sir, with with your senior staff in in June uh directly with your office regarding small shipyards in

▶ 3:10:26Absolutely, sir. I I'll be there.

▶ 3:10:28Thank you, sir. I I will I look forward to that meeting and our staffs working together. Um, Admiral Joint Reserve Base New Orleans plays a critical role and remains strategically important installation for both homeland defense and global force projection. I'm sure we agree. And they provide aggressor aircraft that prepare our combat aviators to succeed in forward theaters.

▶ 3:10:56Uh Louisiana's reserve units have consistently delivered for the Navy and delivered operational capability at a high level, but aging platforms are creating increased sustainment and mission capability challenges. That's that statement. It's something I'm quite certain you're 100% in agreement with.

▶ 3:11:18Um, and we can agree that there's a great deal of importance in readiness, pilot retention, and maintaining surge capacity in the reserve component. And I commend the Navy for addressing these challenges and and and for addressing fighter rec recapitalization efforts such as transitioning from the legacy F5 aircraft to the newer FA18 platforms at at Joint Reserve Base New

▶ 3:11:48Orleans. there was a butt coming, right? However, it's reported that necessary uh simulators and maintenance contracts will not arrive in time to support the transition. Can you just can you speak to that? What's the Navy doing? What can we do to help? Is there anything I'm not doing as as a Louisiana representative? Uh please speak to that.

▶ 3:12:13So, there's nothing more frustrating to get a capability and not be able to train on it before you you know you try to fill it. make sure the pilots are ready to go and they've got the simulators and tubs as we call them that we're ready to actually do that. So, let me take that for action to understand where we are in fielding that there and what the requirement is and if it's behind why and get back to you on what we're going to do to shore that up. I would look forward to that that communication.

▶ 3:12:38Can I can I humbly ask you as well, sir, for a senior staff meeting with my staff for an update on that within the next three or four

▶ 3:12:46Of course. Yes, sir. Thank you very much, gentlemen, for all of you. Let me say that uh it's a lot of money and it's the people's treasure. We're going to watch it very carefully, but we we want to invest in in the uh in in this era of of development of an indomitable military.

▶ 3:13:14And none of us up here who question your the professionalism and the intentions of your request, but we have to look at every dollar very carefully. I'm sure you concur. I'm going to address pilot shortages for just a moment.

▶ 3:13:33my my dad I think is one of the most uh sort of internal threats that we face to our readiness and capability and and our ability to project force. My dad was a Navy pilot in World War II and he was it was fascinating to be his son. I can tell you I ended up joining the army maybe so that would have one interest in football weekend per year.

▶ 3:14:04But the the challenges that the Navy and the and the Marine Corps face across across the spectrum just pilot retention and qualified pilots staying in uniform.

▶ 3:14:20Um, I commend what's being done, but I ask is is is the Navy and the Marine Corps dressing the culture within the pilot u realm that that that pulls these guys out where they leave the uniform of United States Navy or Marine Corps and put on a uniform of Delta or United.

▶ 3:14:44sir, I can tell you that we're in a pretty good place on our pilot retention. We're paying them a pretty handsome bonus to stay and they want to be Marines. They signed up to fly tactical aircraft.

▶ 3:14:53That's what I like to hear.

▶ 3:14:54But the the there is a draw by the commercial industry to pull them away paying them an exorbitant salary. And so

▶ 3:15:02time is expired.

▶ 3:15:04Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you, Mr.

▶ 3:15:07Mr. Sorenson, you're recognized for five

▶ 3:15:10Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to welcome Secretary Cow, um Admiral Coddle, and General Smith, uh for being here in committee. Um I am honored to be the only professional meteorologist serving in the Congress. Uh before the people elected me to serve them, I served in in a different way. Um as a broadcast meteorologist, telling the moms and dads when to go in the basement for a tornado or when to stay off the roads for a blizzard. Um but that job set me up to be able to do this job today.

▶ 3:15:38Um, I would never have been successful in my previous career if I didn't have the weather modeling data that was accurate. Um, here on the Armed Services Committee, I now look at weather through a national security lens. You know, I'll never forget the chance that I had meeting sailors in Norfick, Virginia on the USS Abraham Lincoln in 2017.

▶ 3:15:59Navy meteorologists who are forecasting not tornadoes and blizzards but rather keeping our war fighters safe by keeping the most important Americans away from the worst storms. So in your witness statement, Admiral Codle, you mentioned that the Navy has surpassed its recruiting goal. Can you share whether you you surpassed your recruiting goal for the Navy weather enterprise, including meteorology, oceanography, andographer mates? Sir, they're not on my radar that we're behind there.

▶ 3:16:29So, I'm assuming that we're on plan. I can go look at those exact numbers, but I can guarantee you that no one values it more than me. And uh across the whole spectrum, it is part of our war fighting apparatus. It's more so much more than just weather as you know, right? It's about the ocean. It's about space. It's about precision navigation and precise navigation timing. So, the entire all of this is all tied into that career field. So, uh, you have my commitment to make sure if I'm if I'm deficient there, I will get back to you on those numbers

▶ 3:16:58because there's so much that we don't yet know. There are so many discoveries that we're going to need scientists and and folks um to advance our understanding of meteorology. I fought hard to ensure that the DoD reversed its decision uh last year to cut critical satellite weather data to Noah. Degradation in Noah's data makes forecasting more difficult and that directly hurts our military readiness.

▶ 3:17:23Uh the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command relies on Noah data and our war fighters rely on both the Navy and Noah to execute missions safely. Uh to my next question to the admiral and also to Secretary Cow, can you speak briefly about the importance of MTOAC and how the Navy partners with Noah to ensure vital forecasting for our troops?

▶ 3:17:44Well, I mean it goes to safety ship. It goes to planned operations. It goes to when we re replenish um you know our ships. It goes to modeling acoustic data for sound velocity profiles. It goes for how our weapons perform. It goes to when we how we do intelligence uh surveillance and reconnaissance. It's inherently in because it's part of the earth. It goes again you know uh how we do pnt. All of that's tied into the meto uh portfolio. So I value it greatly.

▶ 3:18:13uh the command there it's sent us I value greatly and and how it actually uh we actually filled that and build those communities of practice and the NAV I4 community of practice is part of something I hold very dear

▶ 3:18:26thank you Admiral

▶ 3:18:27and Congressman every year at the United States Naval Academy there's a handful of billets for the the meteorology and oceanography majors so it's a very coveted u ability for them to to compete for that billet those five billets to go into that that specialy field. And like the admiral said, I mean, everything revolves around the weather. I mean, we don't want an amphibious landing.

▶ 3:18:51Again, unfortunately, history has shown what what happens when you don't guess where where the tide changes are. And also, we can't lose ships uh that that are sailing into harm's way. Also, I mean, we we need to avoid ships. We do sorties all the time, and that's thanks to the meteorology uh community, sir.

▶ 3:19:08And we can't just use what we have learned in the past. How important is it that we do focus on how our climate is

▶ 3:19:16Sir, we we we know always need the climate's always changing. I mean, it it's constantly changing and again we're that's why we need meteorologists to to tell us where to go and when when the best time to strike is. I mean, again, in special operations, we need to make sure that we're not doing during full moon and and during a major storm. And so, we need to be able to insert our people in quickly and safely.

▶ 3:19:37Sir, I would just add one additional thing. I normally don't jump back in like this, but it's also very important for unmanned and so, you know, yeah, our unmanned autonomous vehicles out there, UAVs, and understand the weather they're incurring and modeling that and knowing how to employ them effectively. So, there it's inherently tied to unmas question uh to Mr. Secretary. How closely do you work with Noah to make sure that we're working together?

▶ 3:19:59Uh, as of right now, sorry, I I can't answer that question, but I know in the past I've worked very closely with Noah uh for for everything from searching from the bottom of the ocean for like John F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife and gentleman's time. I'd love to be part of that. Mr. Davis, you're recognized for five

▶ 3:20:16Uh, thank you so much, Mr. Chair, and to the ranking member and to the witnesses who are here today. Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point um continues to reach new heights. For the second year in a row, the installation earned distinction as the Marine Corps Air Station of the Year, and we indeed are proud of that.

▶ 3:20:35General Smith, given the 2026 Aviation Plan roll out, can you confirm that the Marine Corps intends to keep all six F-35 Lightning 2 squadrons whole at Cherry Point?

▶ 3:20:49Sir, we do.

▶ 3:20:51Okay. Thank you so much. Um, shifting I've heard from so many in eastern North Carolina which this has been a topic that's been ongoing from years for years and that's the victims of toxic water contamination at cample I've continued to hear from families the Wilson family have shared their story how it impacts the entire family and literally we've seen people

▶ 3:21:21who've already now died um acting secretary cow 2,635 lawsuits been filed with the US District Court of the Eastern District of North Carolina and only 400 settlements have gone through. What is the department's plan of action and that may includes include any inter agency cooperation with DOJ would love to hear from you in terms of what's the plan for these families.

▶ 3:21:50Well, again, sir, you you mentioned these are ongoing uh litigations, and I I I I can't uh talk about this, but I just we're always committed to take care of our sailor, our sailors, marines, and their And shifting gears once again, um, Newport News ship building.

▶ 3:22:13We have over a thousand North Carolinians are going um to the shipyard and I'm really pleased with the work that taking place there. Let me ask both both acting secretary cow and admiral um codle what are the primary bottlenecks that you see um specifically with ramping up the production of Americanmade parts for our nuclearpowered submarines and the next generation vessels

▶ 3:22:44um to prepare for a potential inopacific conflict.

▶ 3:22:48Congressman, the uh thank you for that. The um the supply is not 100% the issue. It's just the the manufacturer the o the the uh the large companies are not telling the small manufacturers what they or the the supply chain what what they need. And this is why it was so important for this body to allow us to to have multi-year procurement. So they can they can tell tell the suppliers, hey, we're going to need this because we're going to build one LPD every every year.

▶ 3:23:19These are exactly what we need. But I'll I'll defer to Admiral Codle also.

▶ 3:23:24Well, first of all, I'll just say go Wolfpack and go Tar Hills just to get that on the record. But the um uh you know the thousand you know North Carolinians heading to Huntington, Engles, Newport New Ship Building is exactly what Wright looks like. And so it is the flow of of of this workforce at that level from all the surrounding states into that maritime industrial kind of epicenter there in Virginia is what we need to keep the right talent the right retention right recruiting all that on track.

▶ 3:23:52You know it's a massive question what you've asked but we've got a lot of single vendor lock going on out there. We've got a lot of long lead time material challenges. We've got a lot of upgrades that need to be done on the yards. And so it's it's a big question. But I would just tell you and I'd be happy to come and talk to you personally about it, but at the heart of it, it is all about the workforce. It's about turning wrenches, putting bead welds down, and planning and executing the maintenance on time and on schedule.

▶ 3:24:18Well, let me say um Admiral um go Wolfpack, go to our hills, and we really appreciate your service to our country and the same thing to our um secretary and to the general. Thank you and God bless for the work that you're doing.

▶ 3:24:35Dr. Conaway, you're recognized for five

▶ 3:24:38Uh thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you witnesses for presenting yourself uh to us today. Uh before um getting to my America's prepared remarks and question. Um Secretary Cal, you mentioned um and just let me set up just a little bit. We have heard from the administration that uh the uh Iranian ability to project force has been decimated. Um they can't fire any missiles. They um they are 90% attred.

▶ 3:25:08Uh they're flat in their back. I heard you say in your remarks uh that and you might have misspoken and so I I want clarification. uh have the Iranians been firing at American assets uh or are they firing at um other countries in the region or or both? Because it comes to this question of whether and when uh Congress is going to speak on uh this war is Congress's authority to to declare war.

▶ 3:25:36Uh and so I'm just curious whether or not the Iranians are firing at uh US assets uh in that region. Congressman, we after we stopped the hostilities and we were talking to to them for uh peace negotiations. Uh again, they have a lot lack of command control right now. No one really knows who's in charge over there.

▶ 3:25:56And so you have these these one onesies and twoosies go out and and they're they're launching they they dug out from their rebels and they pulled out a couple missiles and they they shoot at these merchant ships that are coming by and that's why our our ships are protecting those ships as well. I mean, it's there's always

▶ 3:26:12So, I mean, I'm sorry, sir. Are they firing at American because that sounds very much like a warlike activity, and the Congress has yet to speak to the American people on the question of whether or not we ought to be at war. So, I'm just curious what's happening with respect to our assets uh in uh the region of operation.

▶ 3:26:31They're shooting at at merchant ships,

▶ 3:26:33Okay, let me move on to um uh u other remarks I want to make in a question. The United States continues to exist within a global economy where global supply chains, international trade and manufacturing are all interconnected. This reality is directly tied uh to US naval ship building uh initiatives outlined in both the FY27 uh naval budget and the US Navy ship building plan.

▶ 3:26:57Specifically, the US Navy ship building plan released in May uh 2026 emphasizes the need to revitalize our industrial base in order to comply with the president's executive order. The US manufacturing base has holistically been in decline since 1979 and both military and commercial ship building have declined alongside it.

▶ 3:27:17Uh this long-term erosion compounded by the administration's cuts to the Department of Labor and the Department of Education has weakened the domestic workforce and reduced access to critical education and training pipelines. Specifically, the president's budget proposal would cut the Department of Labor SP funding by nearly 26% eliminating vital programs such as JobCore and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.

▶ 3:27:39As stated in a 2025 article by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the United States ship building enterprise has struggled to stay a breast of best practices in ship building in recent decades and in no small part because of the small size of the US commercial ship building base, which tends uh to be where innovation arises uh in the sector worldwide.

▶ 3:28:02A lack of uh domestic manufacturing initiatives coupled with the Trump administration's reckless use of tariffs has cultivated a manufacturing environment uh that is both um uh disproportionate to the size uh and cost. Secretary Cal uh in the new uh US ship building plan your forward emphasizes the need to revitalize the American industrial base. What are your priority initiatives to help build the capacity and capability of both domestic ship building industry and vendors that support them?

▶ 3:28:31And I certainly want to echo the comments that my colleagues have made about how important it is uh that while we might borrow technology, copy it, use it here, that our ships uh and other um war fighting uh material be made here in the United States. So I appreciate your uh your answer to my question, sir.

▶ 3:28:50Congress, I know this is very important to you and it's very important to everybody in this room also to build the ships. We we need 540,000 Americans to to turn roll up their sleeves and work right now. And this is what we're trying to do. And you allowing us to do multi-year procurement allows that. It allows for industry to say, "Okay, this is what we're going to do for the next seven years." And that's why I I want to thank the Congress for allowing us to do that. And and these are the levers we need to pull in order to get ship building going. Sir,

▶ 3:29:18uh yes, and thank you for that. Um, Admiral Carle, uh, how does the US Navy intend to increase surveillance workforce development and retention in a sector that has been steadily declining for the last 45 years? We heard from CEOs that there are some, I think, pilot uh, programs that um, are um, designed to help um, bring in a workforce that's going to be specifically

▶ 3:29:40the gentleman's time is right through it. But anyway, I'll leave it at that. U, thank you, Mr. Chairman. it's been three plus hours. Congratulations to all of you. Um, I've got a couple of thoughts, a couple of questions, and then we're going to be on our way because we all have very important things to do, but nothing more important than what we're doing here in this committee room.

▶ 3:30:09This is not Democrat or Republican. This is about Democrats and Republicans working together on armed services to get the right results for the national defense. So, I want to throw one acronym out at you. ATM. This is money is not endless in an ATM, but in this particular instance, it stands for all things maritime.

▶ 3:30:33As we've listened over the last three hours to everybody make their statements, your responses, they have been thoughtful, but we still have to focus on all things and get that broader base. Whether it's the industrial base, whether it's the military ability to plan, project, and implement, all of these things work together. So ATM just remember all things maritime but money is not unlimited and time is finite too.

▶ 3:31:04Okay. no horse is too dead to beat right. Okay. So we're going to resurrect right now the the subject of the amphibious fleet. Uh, Admiral Coddle, over the years, the Navy budget consistently prioritized other platforms while the Marine Corps warned of a crisis in amphibious lift.

▶ 3:31:29As the ultimate arbiter, are you directing the Department of the Navy to adequately fund the amphibious warship procurement and maintenance required for this presence? Or is there something we've missed? And there's a a strategic decision that lowers the Marine Corps in that priority list.

▶ 3:31:53Sir, I am directing that everything we can do to maintain the our amphibious fleet be done. I fully recognize the journey that we've been on and how it got to the state. I own it. I'm working with the general, Eric Smith, to work to fix it. It has my full commitment. It's getting full funding. It's getting full oversight and every lever I can pull to improve the readiness of the amphibious

▶ 3:32:16Okay. Thank you. Um, General Smith, could you please briefly talk about the importance of the medium landing ship to Marine Corps operations, including your overall acquisition, objective, and preferred timeline for getting these ships into the fleet?

▶ 3:32:31Sir, I can. The LSM or landing ship medium is a crucial inter island connector. It's what moves us through and about the first island chain. It moves our things like our Nemesis Patty, our NA nemesis battery, Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System, and our Rogue Nemesis system. So, the the number is to be decided. you know, it's about 30 uh give or take, but we're we're still determining those numbers.

▶ 3:32:56But it's it's designed to move those units about and through the first island chain to be a limited target, to be disagregated, and to reagregate forces in order to move throughout that first island chain and to sustain themselves to move munitions, batteries, munitions uh supplies, and to move Marines.

▶ 3:33:16Thank you. Uh Mr. Secretary, I it's great to see you here. Uh I agree with the comedown's belief that the LSM is critical to the Marine Corps warf fighting mission, which is why I think it's imperative that the Navy does everything it can to get as many ships delivered as quickly as possible.

▶ 3:33:37That requires sufficient funding as we know to fully utilize the production capacity of LSM ship builders including Fin Cananti Marinet Marine which is able to construct four LSMS per year. I was up at their facilities not that long ago and it's quite impressive. Um what are your plans for resourcing the LSM program to meet the four ship per year target and maintain the ship building workforce?

▶ 3:34:05uh a majority of which u commute from my district in into Tony Weed's district to go to work.

▶ 3:34:15Congressman, we we are uh we have that in our budget this year for that's that's why you know it's so imperative that we pass this bill, sir, because you know we time is of the essence and these ships are not going to build themselves. We need to be able to tell industry this is what we want and and we're going to lock in the design and then move forward from there. Sir,

▶ 3:34:35okay, I want to leave you

▶ 3:34:37if I could add just two things that I think are important to that question is proven design. So, it's this the LST 100. We're using the Damon design and we're for the first time the Navy's actually going to use a vessel construction manager for the oversight of that build. So, both of those are things that are going to get that delivered on time.

▶ 3:34:56Great. Thank you. Well, and to close this out, you know what the term shell game? Okay. Well, I would suggest to you if you look at it potentially, we've been playing a hull game for too long.

▶ 3:35:11It's time for the Hall game to end and the ships to be built, deployed to the fight to humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, which is a lot of what our muse do when they're not in the fight. But it's that worldwide presence that our amphibious ready fleet shows the world that we're serious about what we do. We just need the seriousness to re result in ships that are floating and marines that are aboard.

▶ 3:35:40And with that, um, unless there's anything else, uh, uh, this this hearing is adjourned. I thank everybody for your time and your

Title

Navy and Marine Corps FY2027 budget: ship building, readiness, and the battleship debate

Purpose

The House Armed Services Committee met to examine the Department of the Navy's fiscal year 2027 budget request of $377.5 billion, part of a $1.5 trillion overall defense budget, with witnesses Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Daryl Caudle, and Marine Corps Commandant General Eric Smith. Discussion centered on rebuilding the shipbuilding industrial base, amphibious fleet readiness, the proposed nuclear-powered "Trump class" battleship, recruiting and retention, and costs associated with the ongoing Operation Epic Fury in the Middle East. Begins at▶ 0:16:27

Who spoke

• Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL)▶ 0:16:27: Opened by citing China building 47% of world ships to the US's one-tenth of 1%▶ 0:17:50, and stressed the need for an 80% surge-ready amphibious fleet, noting nearly half the amphibious fleet is in unsatisfactory condition▶ 0:20:06.

• Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-WA)▶ 0:20:57: Praised Marine Corps modernization and shipbuilding workforce gains at Bath and Newport News▶ 0:22:24, but sharply criticized the $22 billion battleship as unaffordable and not aligned with autonomous-systems priorities▶ 0:24:36.

• The Honorable Hung Cao, Acting Secretary of the Navy▶ 0:26:01: Described the 377.5B budget adding 34 new ships and 123 aircraft▶ 0:27:49, cited only 188 US-flagged merchant ships versus 11,000 Chinese ships▶ 0:41:58, and defended pursuing foreign shipyard partnerships to speed production▶ 1:06:28.

• Admiral Daryl Caudle, Chief of Naval Operations▶ 0:31:28: Warned that without supplemental funding he'll have to alter force generation by July and hold 12,000-15,000 new recruits in place▶ 0:43:27; said only 62-day submarine availability studies point to a needed fifth shipyard▶ 0:56:22; defended the nuclear battleship's speed and survivability▶ 2:58:20.

• General Eric Smith, Commandant, US Marine Corps▶ 0:36:40: Said the Marine Corps' amphibious readiness is closer to 50% rather than the required 80%, calling a 3.0 Amphibious Ready Group presence unsustainable at current lift levels▶ 0:38:02▶ 0:57:24.

• Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH)▶ 0:50:50: Raised concerns about changes to Navy sexual harassment investigation policy▶ 0:51:16 and neglected infrastructure at the Naval Medical Research Unit Dayton▶ 0:51:48.

• Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA)▶ 0:54:29: Asked about West Coast shipyard capacity, prompting Caudle to admit the Navy lacks sufficient facilities there▶ 0:55:53, and pressed on amphibious ship numbers with General Smith▶ 0:57:24.

• Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA)▶ 0:58:48: Questioned Secretary Cao on onshore small modular nuclear reactors at Navy bases▶ 0:59:15 and on risks of using foreign ship designs after the FREMM/Constellation-class experience▶ 1:02:29.

• Rep. Donald Norcross (D-NJ)▶ 1:03:54: Confronted Secretary Cao over the shipbuilding plan's foreign-shipyard provisions, saying they contradict Buy American and MINDS Act requirements▶ 1:05:09▶ 1:07:08.

• Rep. Charles Fleischmann/"Dr. DesJarlais" (R-TN)▶ 1:09:00: Asked about distributed shipbuilding and foreign-ally assistance, and about the Ohio-class submarine life extension (PYRO) plan, with Caudle confirming 4-5 Ohio boats will be extended▶ 1:12:20.

• Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT)▶ 1:14:03: Confirmed AUKUS Pillar One is "on track" and discussed submarine industrial base investment, including a 13% rise in New England submarine tonnage in 2025▶ 1:14:29.

• Rep. Trent Kelly (R-MS)▶ 1:19:17: Praised the Navy's new 30-year shipbuilding plan and asked about incentivizing faster amphib production▶ 1:20:35 and E-2D Hawkeye procurement▶ 1:22:28.

• Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA)▶ 2:24:10: Challenged the $17 billion battleship cost against cheap Ukrainian sea drones (~$250,000 each) that destroyed Russia's Black Sea fleet▶ 2:25:33, and pressed Cao on Harvard remarks and CVN82 naming policy▶ 2:27:16▶ 2:28:44.

• Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX)▶ 2:09:59: Highlighted the historic 46% increase in shipbuilding funding and asked about amphibious readiness investment and the CMV-22 Osprey NEL improvement program▶ 2:33:32.

• Rep. Robert Garcia... (already listed) — n/a

• Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-CA)▶ 2:34:46: Praised the Marine Corps as the only service to pass a clean audit three years running▶ 2:34:51, then yielded time to Rep. Tran.

• Rep. Derek Tran (D-CA)▶ 2:36:30: Spoke of shared Vietnamese-American heritage with Secretary Cao and asked him to advocate for Vietnamese political prisoners▶ 2:37:24.

• Rep. Morgan Luttrell (R-TX)▶ 2:39:43: Questioned foreign steel sourcing for submarines, raising the "Hurt the Metals" domestic supplier issue▶ 2:40:47, and discussed military suicide prevention with Cao▶ 2:41:52.

• Rep. William Keating (D-MA)▶ 2:44:35: Advocated for university partnerships in naval R&D and raised concerns about small-company disruption in unmanned ship prototype competitions▶ 2:48:34.

• Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX)▶ 2:49:44: Praised Cao's immigrant story and asked about recruiting and pilot retention▶ 2:50:52.

• Rep. Jill Tokuda (D-HI) [1:59:44... corrected]: n/a

• Rep. James Moylan (R-GU)▶ 1:59:44: Discussed Guam housing, power grid, submariners, and Marine Corps buildup at Camp Blaz▶ 2:00:10.

• Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME)▶ 2:04:46: Sharply criticized the plan to build hull sections in foreign yards, warning of Bath Iron Works layoffs, and said "there's no way I will support that proposal"▶ 2:05:36▶ 2:09:17.

• Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) / "Dr. McCormick"▶ 2:09:59: (see above)

• Rep. Rob Bresnahan / "Mr. Bresnahan"▶ 2:14:57: Questioned the extended USS Ford deployment and force levels needed against Iran▶ 2:15:06.

• Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI)▶ 2:20:14: Confirmed NEX/PX stores are not closing, praised Cao's meritocracy comments, and pressed for commitment on veteran suicide prevention collaboration▶ 2:23:22.

• Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D-NH)▶ 2:25:25: Secured commitments on Right to Repair legislation▶ 2:26:29, shipyard hiring-freeze protections▶ 2:27:56, and a still-overdue submarine supplier briefing▶ 2:29:58.

• **Rep. Rob Wittman-adjacent Rep. from VA / "Mr."▶ 2:30:36**: Recognized USS Gerald R. Ford's return and asked about the nuclear battleship design and amphibious needs▶ 2:31:47.

• Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA)▶ 2:35:34: Questioned whether O&M funding covers Epic Fury munitions replenishment▶ 2:35:59 and raised strain on military families in San Diego amid deployments▶ 2:37:38.

• Rep. Rudy Yakym / "Mr. Mesmer" (R-IN)▶ 2:40:26: Pressed on metrics for the 50% distributed-shipbuilding goal and Zumwalt-class hypersonic weapon timeline▶ 2:43:48.

• Rep. Sarah Elfreth (D-MD)▶ 2:45:37: Raised Coast Guard Yard Baltimore's potential role, amphibious shipbuilding investment gaps at Ingalls, Naval Academy flooding, and Pax River's anechoic chamber▶ 2:46:04▶ 2:48:43.

• Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC)▶ 2:50:45: Asked about Parris Island barracks, MCAS Beaufort hangars, and Beaufort Naval Hospital's shift from inpatient to ambulatory care▶ 2:53:59.

• Rep. Suhas Subramanyam / "Mr." (D-VA)▶ 2:55:41: Endorsed MEU 3.0 and Quantico's role, then challenged the battleship's cost-exchange ratio against $20 million Chinese DF-26 missiles▶ 2:57:52.

• Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE)▶ 3:00:51: Had Caudle detail the USS Ford's record 10-11 month deployment and food supply status▶ 3:01:06, and asked about the TACAMO/E-6B to E-130J transition▶ 3:03:24.

• Rep. Bob Onder / "Mr. Bald" (R-MO)▶ 3:05:57: Pressed on relocating Missouri Guard/Reserve units from Lambert Airport▶ 3:06:27 and FA-XX sixth-generation fighter coordination with the Air Force▶ 3:08:35.

• Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA)▶ 3:09:55: Requested meetings on small shipyards and raised F-5 to F/A-18 simulator delays at Joint Reserve Base New Orleans▶ 3:11:48.

• Rep. Eric Sorensen (D-IL)▶ 3:15:10: As a former meteorologist, asked about Navy weather-enterprise recruiting and NOAA data-sharing importance for military readiness▶ 3:16:29.

• Rep. Don Davis (D-NC)▶ 3:20:16: Raised Camp Lejeune water contamination lawsuit settlements▶ 3:21:21 and Newport News shipbuilding supply-chain bottlenecks▶ 3:22:44.

• Rep. Jen Kiggans / "Dr. Conaway" (R-VA)▶ 3:24:38: Questioned whether Iran is still firing at US assets post-ceasefire▶ 3:25:36 and DOL workforce-training cuts' effect on shipbuilding▶ 3:27:17.

• Rep. Rob Wittman, Vice Chair, closing▶ 3:29:00: Closed the hearing pressing on amphibious ship funding accountability, the LSM (medium landing ship) program timeline, and use of the term "hull game" to describe delays▶ 3:33:16▶ 3:35:11.

Key moments

• Secretary Cao stated the US has only 188 flagged merchant ships and 105 military sealift ships compared to 11,000 Chinese ships, and that a full shipbuilding push could support 540,000 US jobs▶ 0:41:58▶ 0:42:29.

• Ranking Member Smith repeatedly attacked the proposed $22 billion (later cited at $17 billion) nuclear battleship as unaffordable and strategically misguided compared to cheaper autonomous systems▶ 0:24:36▶ 0:46:37.

• Rep. Norcross confronted Secretary Cao with page 17 of the shipbuilding plan referencing work performed "outside of the United States," accusing the administration of contradicting Buy American and MINDS Act mandates▶ 1:06:48▶ 1:07:08.

• Rep. Golden delivered an extended rebuke of the plan to build ship hulls in foreign yards, warning it would trigger Bath Iron Works layoffs and declaring "there's no way I will support that proposal"▶ 2:05:36▶ 2:08:00.

• Rep. Moulton calculated that the $17 billion battleship equals 68,000 Ukrainian-style $250,000 sea drones, the type Ukraine used to destroy much of Russia's Black Sea fleet▶ 2:25:46▶ 2:25:33.

• Admiral Caudle disclosed that without supplemental funding he will have to alter force generation by July and is already holding 12,000-15,000 new recruits due to funding shortfalls▶ 0:43:07▶ 0:43:57.

• General Smith and Admiral Caudle both confirmed the amphibious fleet is at roughly 50% readiness against an 80% requirement, with 31 ships legally required but roughly 36-45 needed to sustain a 3.0 ARG-MEU presence▶ 0:57:47▶ 2:11:54.

• A tense exchange saw Rep. Moulton press Secretary Cao on his Harvard fellowship and whether it made him "too woke," and on CVN-82 potentially being named for President Clinton, which Cao declined to directly answer▶ 2:27:59▶ 2:28:44.

• Secretary Cao revealed a 300 Navy diving/EOD community reference tied to suicide, citing his own PTSD and traumatic brain injury from recovering bodies in combat, and a fleet-wide message he released that morning▶ 2:42:08▶ 2:42:29.

• Rep. Goodlander secured on-record commitments from Secretary Cao and Admiral Caudle on Right to Repair legislation, shipyard hiring-freeze protections, and noted the Navy missed a January 31, 2026 deadline for a submarine supplier briefing▶ 2:26:29▶ 2:27:56▶ 2:29:58.

Metadata

Committee	House Armed Services
Chamber / Congress	House · 119th Congress
Date	2026-05-14
Type	Hearing
Witnesses	The Honorable Hung Cao — Acting Secretary of the Navy, Department of the Navy Admiral Daryl Caudle — Chief of Naval Operations, United States Navy General Eric Smith — Commandant, United States Marine Corps
Video	youtube
Transcript	661 caption blocks · 36,141 words · 3:35:51 runtime
Event	Congress.gov 119273