Both House and Senate authorizers recently rejected the Navy’s bid to delay funding the refueling and overhaul of the carrier USS George Washington (CVN-73) until fiscal 2016, instead authorizing the nearly $500 million necessary to begin the work in this year’s budget in their marks of the authorization bill. Still, the risk of losing CVN-73 remains a real concern in the face of sequestration even though both the Navy and Congress so far appear in favor of keeping the carrier around. And the potential loss of an airwing could have some major implications for the F-35 and E-2D programs.
If the Navy were unable to refuel and overhaul CVN-73, the service would drop down to 10 carriers and nine airwings (one carrier is always in refueling and overhaul, meaning only nine are necessary).
The E-2D Advanced Hawkeye program in particular would take a big hit, likely losing from five to eight aircraft, which is about how many are needed in an airwing — five active, and a few extra supplementary aircraft.
The Navy has already purchased all the EA-18G Growlers and F/A-18E/F Super Hornets it plans to buy, so those programs likely wouldn’t be affected. However, it’s different story for the F-35. Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said it’s likely the Navy would lose some F-35s at the back end of the program — probably at least a squadron’s worth, and potentially two.
Clearly, the Navy and Congress don’t want to lose its 11-carrier force, and their cooperation might ensure the safety of maintaining that fleet and the aircraft that will fly off their decks. As noted, even if Congress doesn’t act this year to provide funding for the refueling and overhaul of CVN-73, the Navy expects to ask for funding in the next fiscal year. But, considering the difficulty Congress has had in getting sequestration overturned, even bipartisan support might not be enough to save the aircraft the Navy stands to lose.
