August 30, 2017
Our navy is broken, and that is a bad thing
The recent string of ship collisions in the western Pacific is a clarion call to the American nation that its Navy is on the brink of combat ineffectiveness. This dismal condition is the result of a long string of irresponsible budgetary actions and strategic mistakes on the part of the nation’s leaders. While it is true that the string of mishaps has, thus far, been limited to one region of the world, the underlying contributing factors of a steady demand for 85-100 deployed ships, a shrinking fleet, and shorter and inadequately resourced maintenance and training periods are eroding the fleet’s effectiveness everywhere. The unique stresses of the western Pacific simply present the ships operating there as the canaries in the proverbial coal mine.
Read the full op-ed in Defense One.
More from CNAS
-
America’s Eroding Airpower
Commentary
To have a chance at success, the United States would need more low-end drones and missiles that can provide it with mass....
By Stacie Pettyjohn
-
Maritime Domain Lessons from Russia-Ukraine | Conflict in Focus
Video
In this week's Conflict in Focus episode, Dr. Stacie Pettyjohn, senior fellow and director of the Defense Program at the Center for a New American Security, discusses the key ...
By Stacie Pettyjohn
-
Build Allied AI or Risk Fighting Alone
Commentary
Amid the hype about artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous systems, militaries around the world are developing, experimenting with, and integrating these tools into every...
By Becca Wasser & Josh Wallin
-
How Long Will Deterrence Hold?
Podcast
Mike hosts Michèle Flournoy, former Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), where she currently serves as Chair of the Board o...
By Michèle Flournoy
