“First and foremost, when ships require more time than planned for maintenance, that means less time for training and less time for operational missions. So those things have an impact on overall readiness,” said Maurer, during a podcast produced by GAO.
“Secondly, it means that the navy is spending more money on maintaining its ships, money that could potentially be used for other things.”
The Weapon System Sustainment report was a public version of the one issued in December last year to the navy and US congressional committee. Specific details, including the steaming hours that the Pentagon deemed sensitive, were removed.
The US and China are seeking to expand their naval influence as part of the strategic competition between the two powers on multiple fronts, including trade, ideology, tech supremacy, and infrastructure.
According to the Pentagon’s annual report in November, the US Navy had 294 battle force ships at the end of the 2021 financial year. This year’s budget submission projects that number will fall to 290 or 291 by the end of the 2030 financial year, but they will be buttressed by increased investment in unmanned surface and underwater vehicles.
China, which already has the world’s largest navy with 335 ships in 2021, is expected to expand its naval battle force to 420 ships by 2025 and 460 by 2030.
Chinese naval expansion is fuelling the urgency among US military officials to grow the maritime fleet in line with the increasing competition, particularly in the South China Sea, where US warships patrolling in freedom of navigation operations have encountered increasing resistance from the PLA Navy.
The White House has asked for US$813 billion for national defence in 2023, including $180.5 billion for the navy, up about US$8 billion from 2022.
While the Pentagon spends tens of billions of dollars every year to maintain and sustain its weapon systems, costs have been growing.
According to the GAO, total operation and sustainment costs for the 10 ship classes reviewed increased by about US$2.5 billion, or 17 per cent, over the 2011-2020 financial years, including a 24 per cent rise in maintenance costs to US$1.2 billion.
Maurer said the “pretty significant increase” was caused by a shortage of trained personnel and unscheduled maintenance.
The report found the average depot maintenance delay per ship increased by about five days from 2011 to 2021, to stand at about 19 days. The number of casualty reports – about problems that could affect mission capability – also increased, from 22 in 2011 to 36 in 2021.
The Wasp class of amphibious assault ships saw the most significant rise in casualty reports, from 11 per vessel in 2011 to 61 in 2021, the report said.
The Arleigh Burke-class DDG-51, the US Navy’s premier destroyer, also faced a number of sustainment challenges, including delays in depot maintenance and shortage of trained maintenance personnel.
According to the GAO report, the Arleigh Burke-class vessels experienced an average of seven more cannibalisations per ship in 2021 than they did in 2011, and 19 more serious failure reports per ship.
Collin Koh, a research fellow at Singapore’s Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, said the US Navy’s reduced capacity is a serious problem that might reduce its military presence in the Indo-Pacific region.
Koh does not foresee the US diverting its military focus from Europe to the Indo-Pacific region in the next few years, because of the war in Ukraine.
China is also able to focus most of its attention on its immediate waters, while the US is a global force that has to split its attention between different regions, he said.
“In terms of fleet size, the Chinese navy has a larger number of smaller and older vessels more suited for regional waters, but the US has fewer bigger, hi-tech ships that bear the brunt of the work,” Koh said.
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Chinese fighter jet almost collides with US military plane over South China Sea
“Time is needed for each ship to transit and travel, so with fewer vessels, some missions cannot be undertaken. The US needs more vessels in the waters in order to [maintain] a presence. It is of no use if your ships are not available.”
Koh said the US would call on its allies and partners for support in the Indo-Pacific to mitigate the capacity issue.
“The Biden administration may want their partners to step up and share the burden, and we might be seeing more Australian and Japanese presence in the region,” he said.
Additional reporting by Lo Hoi-Ying
