Cortes US Navy

[alex]

O custo Iraque esta aparecendo no Orçamento dos EUA. Alguem esta interessado em comprar o Kennedy ou o Kitty Hawk? Agora será que eles conseguiram decidir a retirada do Kennedy antes de gastar 250 milhões em sua reforma?


Do defensenews


Are Big John’s days numbered?

That’s the question that swirled around U.S. Navy quarters in Washington as the year closed out after further reports surfaced in the media that the Pentagon is planning on decommissioning the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy and shrinking the number of Navy carriers from today’s dozen flattops.

The Kennedy’s early demise — the ship is scheduled to remain in service until 2018 — is just one of many Navy program cuts that could appear in the fiscal 2006 defense budget. Other potential reductions include dropping the 2006 shipbuilding buy from six to four ships, cutting the number of new LPD-17 San Antonio-class amphibious ships from the current 12, and lowering the overall number of carriers to 10 or even nine ships. Other new ship construction programs, including the DD(X) destroyer planned to be ordered in 2005, a new amphibious assault ship, a new nuclear aircraft carrier and the Littoral Combat Ship, also could be delayed.

Navy and Pentagon officials have steadfastly refused to discuss budget details until the 2006 budget is released by the White House, although they have declined to dispute published reports of force or program cuts.

“It would be premature and inappropriate to discuss the president’s budget until it is submitted to Congress on Feb. 7,” said Lt. Amy Gilliland, a Navy spokesman at the Pentagon, when asked about the potential cuts.

But a group of Florida legislators told a press conference in Jacksonville on Dec. 30 that the Navy was cutting one of its carriers.

“I received a phone call last Thursday [Dec. 23] from Secretary of the Navy [Gordon] England to inform me that this was being considered,” said Rep. Ander Crenshaw, R-Fla., who represents the region that includes the Kennedy’s homeport of Mayport. “I made it clear to him in no uncertain terms that I thought this was a bad idea” Crenshaw was joined in the press conference by Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Sen. Bill Nelson, R-Fla., and Sen.-elect Mel Martinez, R-Fla. All four said they received similar calls on Dec. 23 from England.

The 2006 defense budget is expected to ask for significantly more money for the Army to support a major expansion effort. Although all the military services have been trying to reduce expenses even as they prosecute the global war on terror and operations in Iraq, the Navy has been far more successful at finding ways to cut costs — and ironically put itself in position to best absorb the largest budget cuts. The service is dropping its uniformed strength from nearly 372,000 to 320,000, and its forces now include only 289 ships, the lowest number since 1916. With fewer ships operating, the Navy is pushing for new ways to keep ships on station longer, such as swapping out crews while a ship is deployed overseas.

The Kennedy is a tempting target for decommissioning. The carrier returned to its homeport Dec. 13 from a six-month Arabian Gulf deployment, and is slated to begin a $250 million, two-year overhaul in the spring to address a host of problems. That means the ship is out of the deployment picture at least until 2008, giving the Navy plenty of time to adjust schedules.

But the Kennedy’s potential demise opens up at least two other major political issues, widely separated in geography and impact:

• The carrier is the centerpiece of the forces at Naval Station Mayport. The base, near Jacksonville, Fla., is home to 20 cruisers, destroyers and frigates in addition to the Kennedy. Counting the installation’s tenant commands and sailors on the ships, about 15,400 uniformed and civilian military people are stationed there. Decommissioning the Kennedy would remove the largest chunk of the Navy’s presence in the region and likely rocket the base to the top of the list of potential base closings.

A new round of closures is to be announced in September, and without the carrier, the need to keep open Mayport would significantly decline. Norfolk Naval Base in Virginia — the world’s largest naval base — likely could take in the Florida ships without too much strain on its infrastructure. Four active aircraft carriers now are based at Norfolk.

Such a move would be a major mistake, said retired Adm. Bob Natter, who headed the Atlantic Fleet and Fleet Forces Command until 2003. “We would be placing ourselves in real jeopardy,” said Natter, who appeared at the Jacksonville press conference with the Florida legislators. “In this age of terrorism,” he said, “putting five carriers in one base, that’s the last thing we need to do.”

• The Kennedy now is scheduled to switch homeports to Japan by 2008, when the carrier Kitty Hawk is scheduled to be decommissioned. The two ships are the Navy’s only non-nuclear aircraft carriers, and basing a nuclear ship in Japan opens a host of political issues in that country. While the U.S. Navy has quietly increased the number of nuclear carriers and submarines making port visits to Japan and the governments have discussed the possibility of stationing a nuclear carrier at the Yokosuka naval base, the announcement that a nuclear ship would be based there likely will stir passions that derive from the 1945 atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Navy has been considering moving a carrier to Guam or Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, but no decisions have been announced, and it is not clear such a move would mean relocating a carrier from Japan. Guam, Hawaii and the southeast Asian country of Singapore have offered to host a carrier and its escorts.

At the Jacksonville press conference, Gov. Bush, brother of the president, said he would “be strongly supportive” of efforts to keep the Navy’s carrier strength at 12 ships. “I will speak to the president about it,” he said.

[P44]

Segundo li, o Kitty Hawk será substituido pelo CVN 77 Uss George H.Walker Bush (!!!!!!!!---lindo nome cof cof ) em 2008.

O CVN 78 (1º CVN 21) substituirá o Enterprise (CVN 65)

O Kennedy passará a ser então o único porta aviões convencional dos EUA (CV 67), passando primariamente a realizar missóes de treino.

O facto do CVN 77 ser nuclear deverá levar a que o grupo de batalha actualmente adstrito ao Kitty Hawk (CV 63) tenha de mover as malas de Yokosuka, no Japão, para o Havai, dado que o Japão não parece estar interessado em ter um PA nuclear permanentemente estacionado nas suas águas.

(isto é o que li, não sei se é 100% correcto ou não)

[Rui Elias Maltez]

Provavelmente seria melhor para a Índia candidatar-se a receber um deles do que encomendar um à Itália.

Embora isso seja proveitoso para a indústria europeia.

E o que é bom para a Europa, é bom para Portugal.

Outra questão é se os americanos estariam dispostos a ceder esse tipo de navios a outros países.

E finalmente, qual será o estado dos navios, no acto da sua desactivação?

[P44]

Rui,

A India já comprou o Admiral Gorshkov (ex-Baku) o último dos Kiev, para substituir o INS Viraat (ex-HMS Hermes)...viu as fotos do A:G: no tópico acerca da Itália com a India???

Agora não estou a ver os EUA a querer "muscular" a India com um CV...

[Rui Elias Maltez]

Julgo que a longo/médio prazo, e de um ponto de vista estratégico, seria bom para os EUA "muscular" a Índia, já que essa poderá ser a potência que poderá manter a China em respeito.

E você sabe que futuramente a China Popular poderá vir a ser uma potência de respeito, a ponto de desafiar a hegemonia EUA/Austrália na Oceania e Pacífico.

Por outro lado a "amizade" actual dos EUA com o Paquistão é circunstancial.

[P44]

Por outro lado a "amizade" actual dos EUA com o Paquistão é circunstancial.

Meu Caro, a "amizade" dos EUA com QUALQUER País do mundo é SEMPRE circunstancial...eles só se ralam com eles mesmos...

Já viu a VERGONHA que foi , logo a seguir ao Maremoto na Ásia, os EUA "ofereceram" 15 MILHOES de Dolares pra ajuda

15 milhões de dolares de quem gasta biliões por dia a tentar "controlar" o Mundo!!!!

Foi tanta a vergonha e os protestos, que ontem o Lider Divino teve de ir a correr chamar o Papá e o Bill Clinton pra um programa de recolha de fundos!!!

o Hipócrita!!!!