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The Navy’s upcoming fiscal year 2018 budget request will begin to reflect the service’s new goal of expanding its fleet by dozens of ships, the chief of naval operations said Jan. 17.The larger fleet, recommended by a recently completed study, "will inform" the FY 2018 budget and "already has" begun to do so, Adm. John Richardson said. The FY 2018 budget will be a "bridge type of effort" that will initiate a "ramp-up” to higher shipbuilding rates.Richardson, who spoke at a Defense…
