00:00Congratulations, and thank you for your service, and thanks to your family for their services and sacrifices as well.
00:05As we discussed in our meeting, the United States is in a munitions crisis.
00:09We need more munitions of all kinds faster.
00:12Do you believe the Navy needs to increase the number of missiles and other kinds of munitions it buys in order to effectively deter and, if necessary, hopefully not, fight and win a war in the Pacific?
00:22Yes, Senator. Wars are won with munitions.
00:25I certainly agree.
00:26To do that, would you say that we need to take an all-of-the-above approach of leveraging our organic industrial base as well as private industry to produce the munitions our warfighters need?
00:37Yes, sir.
00:38Good. I'm glad to hear it.
00:40What steps will you take, if confirmed, to CNO to ensure the Navy does, in fact, get those munitions that it needs?
00:47Well, Senator, I think this is, first, thank you for our time together and some of the conversations we had on this topic.
00:53You know, this is no question an all-hands approach.
00:57It's really easy, I think, to finger point in this world of constraint and oversubscription and underperformance.
01:03So I'd like to break down that and really get to the brass tacks and really get a clear mapping of each of the munition lines in my head and with my team to understand where the critical stoppage points are on the flow of these munitions,
01:16where the way steps are, where the sole source vendors are that are behind, and actually approach this from just a common sense way of thinking about unleashing the logjam of places where we're turning these munitions at pace
01:31and meet our contractual deliveries on time.
01:34And we'll not do any good with the money that you would like to budget for me if I can't translate into the actual delivery.
01:41So I need to work with the partners, make sure the Navy's clean on the way we do qualification and validation and certification steps,
01:48and I'm doing my role along with the industrial base to deliver these critical munitions, sir.
01:54We've heard a lot of talk this morning about shipbuilding.
01:57You've spoken extensively already about the need to increase the readiness of our naval fleet.
02:00Of course, readiness depends on having ships that are prepared to be at sea,
02:07and shipbuilding is only as good as our maintenance plan is for those ships once they're at sea.
02:14What can we do to address the maintenance backlog that the Navy faces today and get those ships out of dry dock and back into sea faster?
02:22Well, Senator, that's, you know, that's a massive venture that I want to spend if confirmed my heart and soul in to get turned around.
02:31But there are some things I can give you that all shipyards need to adhere to,
02:37and that's giving the shipyard a clear demand signal for when the unit is coming in for the maintenance period.
02:43So that's a maintenance plan.
02:45And that planning needs to be stood off with sufficient time that the yard knows it's coming,
02:50has the funding and the workforce ready with a clear signal and a stable workforce.
02:55Long lead time material.
02:58We want the actual parts in the hand of the worker when it's ready to be assembled.
03:03And so the technical work documentation is part of that as well.
03:06And so the planning time horizon, the location of where the actual maintenance is going to take place,
03:12the readiness to start day one, solid project management,
03:16and workforce development and skills are all part of all solutions.
03:21And to your questions.
03:22Okay. Thank you.
03:23Final question.
03:25I think China poses the most severe long-term threat to our nation,
03:28and that is a primarily maritime domain, not exclusively, but primarily.
03:34At the same time, the Navy has to be ready and postured to face threats around the world.
03:38The Navy was part of the outstanding Operation Midnight Hammer that devastated Iran's nuclear programs,
03:46also led the way in the fight against the Houthi rebels in Yemen earlier this year.
03:52What do you see as the biggest challenges the Navy faces to being prepared,
03:57not just to deter the China threat, but also to ensure American leadership around the world on the seas?
04:04Well, Senator, I think overall the biggest challenge is a capacity problem.
04:11And so that makes us have to think.
04:14So when you don't have enough stuff, you really got to put your brain to your schemes of maneuver,
04:19your ability to counter targeting, counter ISR, to actually have synchronization.
04:27There's an old saying that precision beats power and timing beats speed every time.
04:31So we have to bring those types of thinking in.
04:33But at the end of the day, mass will matter.
04:35It will.
04:36And so that's why I need the munitions, I need the ships,
04:39and I need to posture them correctly with great intelligence sources
04:43to know when and where to do that best.
04:46And I do want to thank you for calling out the Navy's role in the Midnight Hammer.
04:50I know our Air Force partners get a lot of the credit,
04:53but there were a lot of T-LAMs that were shot by the submarine force in that as well.
04:56So I appreciate that, sir.
04:58They all did a great job.
05:02Senator Warren.
05:03Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and congratulations.
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