As Congress prepares to evaluate the Defense Department’s fiscal year 2021 budget request next month, U.S. Southern Command’s top official asked the Senate Armed Services Committee for additional ships at a posture hearing Jan. 30.
Grey hulls – or Navy ships – “still serve as a powerful deterrent” and “can also yield multiple cross-cutting returns,” Adm. Craig Faller wrote in advance testimony of the joint hearing with U.S. Africa Command Commander Army Gen. Stephen Townsend Thursday morning.
He cited as an example the Arleigh-Burke class destroyer USS Michael Murphy (DDG-112), which supported an interdiction of a low-profile submersible vessel carrying over 2,000 pounds of cocaine that offered up new evidence, demonstrated rules-based maritime behavior and allowed for coalition training opportunities for the Navy.
In Tuesday’s hearing, he applauded the Coast Guard for “supplying more ships than they even promised,” and also noted the Navy “stepped up” with the deployment of the Littoral Combat Ship USS Detroit (LCS 7) in October 2019.
However, “we need more ships,” Faller acknowledged. “We think the number of Navy ships would be about three to sustain” presence and pressure on adversaries in the region.
Noting that the Coast Guard provides “the bulk” of SOUTHCOM’s counterdrug forces, Faller said in his advance testimony that he looks forward to the acquisition and deployment of the new Offshore Patrol Cutter, for which the Coast Guard recently released its request for proposals (Defense Daily, Jan. 13).
He noted that each additional force package – such as a maritime patrol aircraft, flight deck-capable ship, embarked helicopter or law enforcement detachment – “enables the disruption of 35 more metric tons of cocaine,” he said.
SOUTHCOM has made do with a small footprint and modest budget compared to other COCOMs, Faller said. “Over the past five years, we absorbed 25 percent cuts to our personnel, a 10 percent reduction to our exercise program and a steady decline in available assets and forces needed to support our mission,” he said in advance testimony. The command has worked to streamline its processes and reviewed its FY ’20 operations, activities and investments to support the Defense Department’s current reform efforts, he added.
However, the command requires persistent presence and engagement in the region to fulfill the demands placed upon it by migration crises, a boost in drug trafficking, an increased Russia and China presence and negative trends in democracy in the Southern Hemisphere.
“We need to be clear-eyed about both the security threats we face now and in the near future, and the significant opportunities that await only with our initiative and engagement in the hemisphere,” Faller said.