US lacks clear plan to meet amphibious ship requirements, Marine Corps chief says
The USMC has requested a San Antonio-class LPD in its unfunded priorities list as a means of sending a message about the lack of a plan to meet shipping requirements. (Photo: US DoD)
Speaking to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee during a hearing on the Fiscal Year 2024 budget request for the USN and USMC, Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen David Berger said there was ‘no plan’ for the US to meet its statutory minimum requirements for amphibious warships.
The USMC has included LPDs as the number one priority on its unfunded list this year, something the branches of the US armed forces provided to lawmakers as essentially a shopping list of capabilities that did not make it onto the requested budget.
In its 2024 budget request, the USN halted procurement of San Antonio-class ships to perform studies on the platform.
Berger told Senators: ‘This budget proposes early decommissioning of three of those LSDs with no construction, no acquisition of an LPD.
‘From my role as defining what the requirements are and the statutory minimums of 31, there’s
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