Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has outlined the Pentagon’s planned investments in fiscal year 2017 as part of efforts to bolster U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps capabilities, DoD News reported Thursday.
Cheryl Pellerin writes the Defense Department’s fiscal 2017 budget proposal calls for new lethality to ships, submarines, aircraft and munitions.
Carter told audiences at Naval Base San Diego in California the Navy will receive a major chunk of the defense budget because of the service’s “centrality” to the department’s strategy, according to the report.
The budget request also proposes modification to the SM-6 missile in order to extend its target range, the purchase of nine Virginia-class attack submarines over the next five years and updates to the USS Spruance Arleigh Burke-class destroyer and USS Princeton Ticonderoga-class cruiser, Pellerin reports.
The Pentagon also plans to invest $600 million in unmanned undersea vehicles over the next five years and buy 13 additional F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighters and 16 F-18 Super Hornets for the Navy and Marine Corps, DoD News reported.
Terri Moon Cronk reports the department also wants to increase funding for the tactical air fleet in order to sustain the Marines’ F-18 fighter jets and spend more on full-spectrum training for the service, according to the report.