Rob Wittman

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us today.

Navy witnesses have testified in recent years that they are turning the corner on reversing the negative trends in surface fleet readiness/maintenance, but needed more time to achieve the results.

To help improve the material condition of the fleet, the Navy has reorganized OPNAV offices, stood up new maintenance organizations, and partnered with the American Bureau of Shipping.

As the size of the Navy's fleet declines, and staffing levels at maintenance and training organizations feel added pressure from sequestration, what specific risks has the Navy identified that could hinder its ability to execute the…

In light of the existing shortfalls in the FY13 O&M accounts, and the impacts of sequestration in FY14, what are your greatest concerns about the Navy's readiness?

Decline is a choice, and I believe this new plan willingly chooses to continue the slow, painful decline of robust American Seapower.

We cannot and will not stand idly by while the greatest, most powerful Navy in the world erodes for lack of funding.

I refuse to accept this.

This delicate balance is fragile, and without the needed maintenance and reset of the force, the Navy will be severely challenged to meet its training and operational commitments.

I fear this will put you gentlemen in a damage control situation to maintain the fleet, leading to grave concerns for the readiness of the surface force.

If we can't do that, does that result in increased risk for our sailors?

Yes, sir. I would say that is a correct characterization.

In this scenario, with these deferred maintenance elements and with sailors being at sea longer... does that result in increased risk for our sailors?

So those maintenance availabilities are deferred. Ultimately, you could end up with ships sitting in port because they are not able to go to sea because they don't have systems that may be up to speed or that are capable of doing the job…

There is currently a maintenance backlog for surface combatants due, in part, to the high operational tempo.

Given the current budget environment and limited maintenance resources, would you expect the Navy to defer or cancel additional availabilities in FY14?

How do maintenance and modernization correlate to a ship's ability to reach expected service life?

The Navy Reserve provides daily operational support and is a potent force multiplier that is leveraged on a daily basis to support Navy missions.

VADM Hunt, how critical is the ASW mission module to the LCS mission?

How has the Navy ensured compliance with Title 10 maintenance requirements for U.S. homeported ships while supporting LCS 1 forward deployed?

VADM Hunt, what is the estimated procurement cost and life cycle maintenance cost of one mine warfare mission module?

I have an amendment at the desk. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: Page 157, after line 2, add the following new section: Sec. 10002. None of the funds made available by this…

If you made a request of Congress for information, and you got back a document like this with everything redacted, would that satisfy you?

So what you are saying is that you go through the public comment process, but the public comment really doesn't make its way into the final rule.

In the public comment period the idea is to get comments from the public.