McAleese & Associates: Richard Spencer on Two-Carrier Buy, Other Navy Priorities

Consulting firm McAleese & Associates has issued a report that outlines some of the priorities of Navy Secretary Richard Spencer.

Spencer said Thursday during a Center for Strategic and International Studies event that the Navy has begun to work with Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE: HII) on a possible two-carrier contract.

“We are going to get the Joint Chiefs, Navy, NAVSEA, and industry together, and say what will the next carrier possibly look like eight-years out?” he said at the event.

Spencer noted that the Navy continues to perform freedom-of-navigation operations and “deterrence through presence” to address issues related to China, which is considered by the U.S. as a “pacing threat.”

Jim McAleese, founder and principal at McAleese & Associates, wrote in the report that the secretary discussed the need for adequate defense budget for fiscal 2020 and the service’s adoption of the other transaction authority.

Spencer noted that the Navy needs to spend $400M for each dry dock at public shipyards and cited the service’s three modernization “buckets,” which include the future “Force 2.0” and upgrades to legacy systems, according to the report.