Biden’s 2024 budget proposal would drastically cut the U.S. Navy, retiring eleven ships.
The Navy currently has 294 battle force ships out of the 355 required by law.
The budget cut would force the Navy to lose more than 600 vertical launch missile systems, primarily used as a defense against Chinese attacks in the Pacific Ocean.
While Biden plans to reduce the Navy, China is expecting to have more than 400 ships by 2025.
Reporting from The Washington Free Beacon:
"The Biden Administration’s defense budget would hollow out our fleet and scrap Navy radars and missile systems we desperately need to deter China," Sen. Roger Wicker (R., Miss.), the Senate Armed Services Committee’s ranking member, told the Free Beacon. "Prematurely retiring our ships sends exactly the wrong signal to China as they continue to build their own Navy at a historic pace." ... The White House’s budget proposal disregards repeated requests from the Marine Corps for a minimum of 31 amphibious warships—which would serve a critical role in any military conflict with China. Three of these ships are being retired, and the Biden administration is expected to order a "strategic pause" in the purchase of modernized warships, leaving the force below its statutory requirement of 31 ships.
