Braxton Taylor
Shipbuilders went to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to plead for $600 million in advanced funding to keep aircraft carrier suppliers in production—an ask that comes amid delays, uncertain funding, worries of an aging fleet and recent Pentagon orders to send a second carrier to an active combat zone in the Red Sea.
“Folks, we are at one of those tipping points in seeing the opportunities that are there in front of us,” Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said Wednesday at an event held by the Aircraft Carrier Industrial Base Coalition, an industry group. “Presence is everything. If you look at the challenges around the world, presence is critical, whether it’s to be able to be there to help or be there to deter. There’s a reason why the Chinese are sprinting to build aircraft carriers.”
Wittman also said Congress should fund industry efforts to train and attract workers, noting ongoing talks with the White House’s Office of Management and Budget to do that.
“The three most important things for a robust industrial base and robust shipbuilding capacity are workforce, workforce, and workforce,” he said. “You need those skilled engineers…those skilled technicians that are there helping you build the systems and components for aircraft carriers. Those things are going to be critically important.”
The comments come days after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the USS Carl Vinson to leave station in the Indo-Pacific and head to the Middle East amid increasing Houthi attacks outside of Yemen. The Pentagon also extended deployment orders of the USS Harry S. Truman, which deployed from Virginia-based Naval Station Norfolk in September.
However, some lawmakers voiced concerns that diverting the only U.S. carrier in the Pacific to the Middle East creates a vulnerability—one that is worsened by shipbuilding delays for the CVN-82 and CVN-83 which are set to replace the aging and soon-to-be-retired USS Nimitz (CVN-68) and Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69).
Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., the ranking member on the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces, said that while the economic effects of shipbuilding are important, having too few carriers is a broader national-security issue.
“We can have a debate about whether or not that’s the right positioning,” Courtney said. “The bottom line is there’s not a single aircraft carrier today sitting there in the entire Indo-Pacific—and it’s not because the situation is stable or that our presence is not something that our allies are looking for, and in fact, it is the complete opposite.”
But, still, it all seems to come down to money.
“The only way this gets done is if we fund it,” said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla, who sits on the House Appropriations Subcommittee for military construction. “We are falling behind when it comes to our ability to project power in the Pacific Rim and building aircraft carriers is not a turn-on-a-dime operation.”
The Trump administration has spotlighted shipbuilding as a primary focus, most notably launching a dedicated office inside the White House. There’s also discussion of an upcoming executive order to spur manufacturing in the U.S.
Shipbuilders are asking Congress for more than a half-billion dollars as part of an advanced procurement of the delayed CVN-82 aircraft carrier that’s set to be delivered in 2029.
“We are asking for $600 million for the procurement of CVN-82 in the next fiscal year, fiscal ‘26,” Lisa Dante Papini, who leads the Aircraft Carrier Industrial Base Coalition, told reporters on Wednesday. “The companies that supply aircraft carrier parts and services—some of them are starting to go cold…to not have work. And we’re reaching the point where these production lines are going to cease. When that happens, workers are either repositioned or repurposed or they’re laid off. And that’s not good for military ship building. It’s not good for the country.”
Members of the ACIBC are expected to brief members of Congress this week to relay their concerns, including that many suppliers are already planning to pivot away from military shipbuilding due to the lack of demand. For Papini, that means purchase orders.
“We’ve seen CVN-82 already delayed multiple times. We are hoping to get a clear signal to commit to building that ship. That’s to us what the $600 million represents. So that’s what we’re looking for,” said Papini, who is the CEO of Dante Valve Company, which distributes shipbuilding products.
Another challenge is that production delays with CVN-82 have been longer than with other aircraft carrier builds, which Papini said is “uncharted territory” for the industrial base.
“This is the longest build interval to date between aircraft carriers, and so we really are in a situation that is uncharted territory for us at this point,” she said, adding that unpredictable funding adds to companies’ uncertainty.
“We have a multi-year contract to build two carriers, for example, because that injects stability predictability, it allows businesses to plan…When we don’t have that, and our numbers are changing every year, it takes the stability out of that business and injects uncertainty, which is not optimal.”
The Navy has 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, which can carry nearly 100 aircraft, and are often described as a key component of maritime operations, serving as a strong deterrent with the ability to counter kinetic threats and provide humanitarian and disaster relief.
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