House Armed Services Committee pushes to sustain U.S. shipbuilding and defense procurement

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Sustaining U.S. shipbuilding and defense

Highlights

Chairman Trent Kelly urges sustaining procurement of two Virginia-class submarines per year and accelerating amphibious ship production to meet Navy and Marine Corps operational demands.
Kelly emphasizes that inconsistent congressional demand signals have hampered shipbuilding and broader defense procurement, calling for stable funding to strengthen the maritime industrial base.
The President's budget request supports shipbuilding, aviation (P-8, KC-130Js), and munitions (SM-6, heavyweight torpedoes) but Kelly views it as a first step in a broader defense rebuild.

Shipbuilding priorities for the next fiscal year

As reported by House Committee on Armed Services, Chairman Trent Kelly says the U.S. cannot continue retiring more ships than it buys and must reverse what he describes as a tide of divestment in naval capacity. In prepared remarks for a Seapower and Projection Forces subcommittee hearing, Kelly says lawmakers now have both the 30-year shipbuilding plan and the Future Years Defense program to guide deliberations over the Navy’s needs for the coming fiscal year.

Kelly says the U.S. needs to sustain procurement of two Virginia-class submarines each year and improve production rates. He also calls for faster production and procurement of amphibious ships, arguing that current timelines are constraining the Marine Corps and making a continuous 3.0 ARG/MEU presence increasingly difficult.

He adds that shipbuilding and other defense programs have long been hindered by inconsistent demand signals from Congress. Kelly says that approach is incompatible with efforts to rebuild the maritime industrial base and direct funding toward what he calls the arsenal of the future.

Broader defense industrial and deterrence impact

Beyond shipbuilding, Kelly says aviation and munitions programs also remain central to great power competition. He points to platforms including the P-8 and KC-130Js, along with munitions such as the SM-6 and heavyweight torpedoes, as essential components of the U.S. deterrence posture.

Kelly says he is encouraged by the budget authority requested in the President’s budget for shipbuilding, aviation platforms and critical munitions. At the same time, he describes the request as only an initial step in what he says will be a longer effort to rebuild national defense capacity and strengthen the defense industrial base.

Our earlier report on the House Armed Services Committee’s FY27 Department of the Air Force budget request outlined a shift away from the divest-to-invest approach toward funding both readiness and future capabilities. It highlighted proposed increases for operations and maintenance as well as modernization and procurement, alongside a focus on munitions stockpiles, Space Force warfighting needs, and scaling the defense industrial base to improve deterrence.

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