By Capt. Brent Ramsey, USN ret

President-elect Trump has made recent statements in favor of the need for a much stronger Navy. Here are recommendations for things he must consider.

Provide full support to the Commission on the Future of the Navy.

It is urgent to establish a current baseline requirement for the Navy to know what the mission is, what deficiencies we have, and what needs to be done to field the Navy needed to defend the nation.

The Commission is to “undertake a comprehensive study of the structure of the Navy and policy assumptions related to the size and force mixture of the Navy, in order— (I) to make recommendations on the size and force mixture of ships; and (II) to make recommendations on the size and force mixture of naval aviation.”

The Navy of 2025 is significantly smaller than it has been since the beginning of WWII at approximately 296 combat force ships.

In contrast, at the end of the Cold War under Ronald Reagan the Navy had 592 combat force ships. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has massively increased the size of its People’s Liberation Army Navy to the extent that it now is larger than our Navy. The Congressional Research Service report of August 2024 shows:

Due to worldwide commitments and shortfalls due to maintenance and industrial capacity, the US is now able to keep only 50-70 ships in the 7^th Fleet of INDOPACOM versus the PRC’s 400 ships. The PRC has made clear its intent to dominate the INDO Pacific including all its neighbors including Taiwan and treaty allies like Japan, the Philippines, and South Korea. It is expected that the Commission will strongly recommend a much larger Navy.

The latest Congressional Research Service Report on the growth of the PLAN can be found at the link.

The Trump Administration quickly must propose, and the Congress must fund a large increase in shipbuilding funds for combatants to build the ships the nation urgently needs.

It has long been recognized that the US industrial base has eroded greatly since the end of the Cold War.

In recognition of this fact, some in Congress and DOD itself have called for rebuilding the industrial base. Efforts have begun but they are slow and weak.

We urgently need to build up the defense industrial base for shipbuilding, aircraft manufacturing, and missile production of all types.

Our inventories and production capabilities for ships, aircraft and missiles are degraded and we are at risk of not being able to defend the nation.

To its credit, DOD has documented this need in the form of a National Defense Strategic Industrial Base Development plan, but that effort is not treated as a priority and is seriously underfunded.

It is urgent to increase spending on rebuilding the US’s critical industrial base infrastructure. More information on what DOD proposes is at the link.

Ship Maintenance funding and facilities are sorely lacking to maintain the existing fleet of approximately 296 combat force ships.

Up to 40% of our submarines are awaiting maintenance and cannot deploy. The Navy is seriously short of docks to repair nuclear submarines.

The US used to be a powerhouse shipbuilding nation, but that capability has been allowed to fall into ruin. There are plenty of defunct properties that could be repaired and put back into use. We must urgently fund more ship repair and maintenance funding for the Navy.

The Admiral in charge of Fleet Forces Command admitted that the Navy is deficient in its goal to be able to sortie 75 ships quickly to meet a national crisis largely because too many ships are in long term maintenance or awaiting maintenance before they can put to sea. The GOA has reported in detail on these deficiencies in their 2024 report found at the link.

Ship maintenance funding must be substantially increased.

The wars in Ukraine and in the Middle East have seriously depleted US stocks particularly in missiles.

Congress must appropriate a substantial increase in funds immediately to restock vital missile supplies and build up even further to be ready to fight China in the near term.

China threatens its neighbors in the Pacific and plans to take Taiwan by 2027 according to reports on statements made by President Xi.  China’s provocations against Taiwan increase apace including the recent cutting of undersea cables that provide communications to Taiwan.

The US must build up its supplies of all variants of the Standard missile, the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile and anti-air missiles like the sidewinder. The AF and Army have missile shortages too. The Heritage Foundation has reported on this serious deficiency and their full report can be seen at this link.

The US is at an extreme disadvantage to China in the matter of rare earth metals that are critical to high technology particularly within Defense industries.

China has cornered the market on both the exploration and mining of rare earths at home and around the world. They also dominate in manufacturing and use in industrial applications, especially in weapons systems.

Most advanced weapons systems used by the US military depend on critical components containing rare earth metals. For example, the F-35, the most advanced stealth aircraft in the world used by the US and 18 partner nations has many components that rely on rare earths to function.

According to DOD “the F-35, for instance, requires more than 900 pounds of rare earth elements. Each Arleigh Burke DDG-51 destroyer requires 5,200 pounds, and a Virginia class submarine needs 9,200 pounds.”

China has started restricting the US’s access to select rare earths and this only will increase as tensions between the US and China increase.

Congress must act to incentivize the exploration and mining of rare earths in the US and creation of a supply chain to provide needed rare earths to defense industries. The extent of this problem is covered in detail at the link.

Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) for the nation is inadequate.

The PRC is rapidly expanding its Ballistic Missile numbers, including the perfection of hypersonic delivery systems.

Russia and the DPRK have advanced missile and warhead technology that potentially also threatens the US especially considering how unstable their political situations are.

Iran is known to be pursuing nuclear weapons and has developed ballistic missiles that can be used potentially against the US.

Our technology lags that of both China and Russia when it comes to hypersonic technology. The US is investing little money in advancing our BDM systems. F

or example, the FY 2025 budget proposed a paltry $28B for BMD. In contrast, the Biden administration in FY24 was funded to the tune of $1.4 trillion for environment, climate, and infrastructure spending.

The rationale for most “experts” for minimal spending on BMD is that MAD (mutual assured destruction) continues to be a valid deterrent to nuclear war. This unthinkable nuclear holocaust scenario is the explanation used to invest little in actual BMD.

But, in this increasingly unstable world is MAD still valid? Can we trust that the terrorist state of Iran, or a desperate Russia, China or North Korea would not use nuclear ballistic missiles against the US?

The President and the Congress should assess the state of the threat of our increasingly unstable enemies launching nuclear missiles at the US and determine if adequate funds are going to BMD.

We better not guess wrong or hundreds of millions of American citizens will pay the price.

CAPT Brent Ramsey, (USN, ret.) has written extensively on Defense matters. He is an officer with Calvert Group, Board of Advisors member for the Center for Military Readiness and STARRS, and member of the Military Advisory Group for Congressman Chuck Edwards (NC-11).

First published on Real Clear Defense