It is now a year since the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Michael Gilday, roiled the waters in Washington by proposing that his service receive a bigger share of the Pentagon’s budget. Gilday said the Navy needs more money than the Air Force or the Army in order to build a fleet that can deter China (it currently receives 34% of military funding).
To the surprise of many, the Trump Pentagon delivered a plan intended to do precisely that on the eve of its departure. Its proposed fiscal 2022 budget would increase funding for naval shipbuilding by 42% over the previous year, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley endorsed taking money from the other services for Navy programs.
It doesn’t matter. Much of what the Navy wants to do is never going to happen. The high-water mark of the Trump defense buildup has been reached, and resources for new warfighting systems will recede from here.
