'May Come Back To Bite Us': Jared Golden Warns Pete Hegseth Against Having A Gap In Production Of Destroyers

6 months ago

At a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Thursday, Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) questioned Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth about destroyers production.

Transcript

00:00Thank you, Mr. Chair. Secretary Hegseth, yesterday Admiral Kilby testified before the

00:05committee about the importance of fielding DDG Flight 3 ships. The anti-air ballistic

00:11missile radar capabilities are chief among the reasons why. I'm sure you know that you

00:16could ask just about any of the U.S. flagged merchant vessels that have been attacked by

00:20the Houthis or the Americans who were protected by destroyers when Iran attacked Israel with

00:26this large-scale missile attack, why these ships are so important. So we don't have a complete

00:31budget request from your department yet, but the word on the street is that it's going to

00:37request zero new destroyers. Of course, destroyers are well known as the backbone of any modern

00:42Navy fleet, and China is closing the gap between us and them, having doubled its destroyer fleet

00:47in the last 20 years. I'm also now hearing that the President plans to eliminate the frigate

00:53program outright. Yesterday, Senator Collins asked you about

00:57the absence of anything referencing destroyers in your FY26 spreadsheets that were delivered

01:04to Congress. You didn't really answer the question. Instead, you referenced a historic shipbuilding

01:11investment that is forthcoming. So just focusing on destroyers, there's really nothing historic

01:17about the two destroyers in the reconciliation bill. Just last year, Congress funded three new

01:23destroyers. We did two in FY24. We did three in FY23. So from my perspective, the reconciliation

01:30bill sets you up for an easy opportunity to increase the size of America's destroyer fleet. So I want

01:37to give you an opportunity to tell us what this committee could expect in the FY26 request pertaining

01:44to destroyers. I know you've been talking a lot about trade-offs. In the short term, I would agree that maybe there's no

01:51immediate negative trade-offs there or negative effects of not requesting any destroyers. But in the mid-term and long-term, I think

01:58surely any gap in production of destroyers may come back to bite us. So I wanted to hear what your thinking is here.

02:06Appreciate the question, sir. We are procuring destroyers. And I would contrast the previous administration's budget,

02:12last budget, effectively, which procured five ships. This one includes 19.

02:17I'm talking about destroyers only here.

02:19There's a plus-up of destroyers. We are reviewing the frigate program for reasons I think this

02:25committee is well aware of. Another one of those difficult decisions that we think we're in a place

02:29where we have to make them. Again, another program that was supposed to be off the shelf and reflecting

02:34something based on an existing design that was gold-plated time and time again and pushed backwards.

02:40So that is one of the things we are reviewing. But we call it historic because it's multiples of what we had

02:46before. Not all destroyers, because you've got a lot of back-end capabilities you need to invest in

02:50to be effective in the maritime space. But it does make a historic investment.

02:55You said plus-up. When you say that, are you referencing the two destroyers in the reconciliation bill?

03:01Yes, sir.

03:02And so that would be a plus-up on top of forthcoming requests for more destroyers in the FY26 budget request?

03:08I would have to... Bren, how would you write that down?

03:11Yes, sir. So our budget, as the Secretary said, is one budget, two bills. So the two destroyers,

03:15he's referencing, are the two in the reconciliation bill.

03:18Okay. So, again, does that mean that you will request additional destroyers as part of the FY26

03:26NDAA and appropriations process? Yes or no?

03:32When we built the budget, sir, the four-month review that the Secretary referenced,

03:36we found a requirement for two destroyers in FY26. So the budget only requests two across both bills.

03:42Yeah, absolutely. The Navy has been planning to get two destroyers in FY26 and FY27. However,

03:49I think this committee, the Senate appropriators as well, have been pretty clear that the destroyers

03:55in reconciliation were to supplement that anticipated request of four ships in two years, not supplant it.

04:01So, you know, I suppose if that's all you're asking for, it'll be up to members of this committee and the Congress,

04:09whether or not we want to exercise what we think is the right call here, which would be to grow the size

04:14of our destroyer fleet, not slow down its growth. So with that, I'll just, you can take the 40 seconds

04:20if you have any other comments or I'll yield it back.

04:26Gentleman yields back. Chair, I recognize the gentleman from Texas.

'May Come Back To Bite Us': Jared Golden Warns Pete Hegseth Against Having A Gap In Production Of Destroyers

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