The U.S. Navy has declined to submit a fiscal year 2018 budget plan to the Defense Department that includes $17 billion in budget cuts to shipbuilding programs in the next five years, the Navy Times reported Wednesday.
David B. Larter writes Defense Secretary Ashton Carter asked the service branch to advance investments in aircraft and weapons systems through cuts to shipbuilding funds.
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has opposed such budget reductions to ship construction projects as he aims to increase the military branch’s fleet to 308 ships, Larter reports.
A senior defense official said service branches have until Thursday to submit their budget plans to the DoD secretary’s office, according to the report.
Peter Cook, a spokesman for the Pentagon, said Carter called on all service branches to create their specific budget plans as DoD works to develop a FY 2018 budget proposal for the incoming administration, the report added.