POM 13 News Expected Today

This Aviation Week article is important, and I want to highlight something as we move towards the hearing this afternoon that is likely to discuss the budget challenges facing the DoD. This was the article that really kicked off the legitimate discussion regarding the potential of big deck aircraft carrier cuts.

Cartwright acknowledges the Pentagon is considering delaying deliveries of the proposed next-generation Ford-class carriers — or even more severe options such as canceling one of the carriers and reducing the overall carrier fleet size.

Further, he acknowledges, the Pentagon is mulling whether to cancel the proposed SSBN(X) ballistic missile submarine replacement and instead use a more “evolutionary” approach by elongating SSN Virginia-class attack subs.

“It’s certainly something that’s being considered,” he says. “Nothing is off the table.”

The Pentagon is “relooking” at its overall strategy to determine not only how carriers, for example, can be used, but what types of other ships or assets could be employed or deployed with what kind of capability and at what cost, Cartwright says.

Referring to Cartwright’s comments, Navy spokesman Cmdr. Danny Hernandez said, “Specific details and discussions are pre-decisional and part of program objective memorandum (POM) 13.”

While none of these ideas are particularly new, they seem to be getting much greater traction as Defense Department officials struggle to make deeper budget cuts than they had thought they would have to.

The options on the table have been speculated as delaying a carrier by 2 years, cutting an aircraft carrier, or even retiring an aircraft carrier early instead of the mid-life refuel. But the key point here is the specific target of POM 13 - the next budget.

What is likely to come up later today is that POM 13 has been reopened by the DoD who has been instructed to find more defense cuts. These cuts are not what is being discussed in debt discussions, rather the latest mandate for DoD cuts by the Obama administration. The Navy number is $15 billion. I don't know what the Air Force and Army numbers are, nor what the total number is.

This is one more thing to watch for during the 3:00pm hearing today in the House.