America needs a bigger Navy to fight China for control of the seas. But that takes time, especially when you consider our limited shipbuilding capacity. If there is a danger in the short run, emphasizing putting more anti-ship missiles on our existing ships, planes, and ground units will help us get to the long run.
Is Biden ignoring China's ability to invade Taiwan soon?
Smaller than the last Trump budget when adjusted for inflation, the new spending plan, in the near term, shrinks those forces that would be expected to confront China in the Indo-Pacific region, cutting 17 bombers from the Air Force and fifteen Navy battleforce ships, including seven Ticonderoga class cruisers, while adding no replacement bombers and adding only eight new battleforce ships, with half of those falling in the logistics or auxiliary categories.
To be fair to the Biden administration's Navy
building plans in the short term, if China is planning to invade Taiwan
in the next 6 years, adding more anti-ship missiles is the most
efficient method of adding ship-killing power quickly to U.S. forces
during the danger period, as I noted recently:
Hmmm: "US Navy Punts on Building a Fleet to Compete with China[.]" To be fair, it may be that the first order of business is dramatically expanding air- and ground-launched anti-ship missiles. Plus attack submarines. Then the surface fleet deserves attention. I'm all in favor of a larger fleet but the fact that Biden is not doing that now does not mean I should automatically condemn the decision. We'll see.
In the long run we need more ships, subs, and planes. In the short run we need ship-killing power deployed whether by the Navy, Coast Guard, Marines, Air Force, or Army. I'll leave Space Force out of the direct-shooting mission for now.
