Mazie Hirono Grills Admiral On Navy's 'Dismal Track Record' Of Maintaining Amphibious Vessels

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During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last week, Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) spoke about the maintenance of the Navy's amphibious vessels.

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Transcript

00:00Senator Hirono. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I

00:04get that a four-year CR is

00:06going to present some very unique challenges for all of our services,

00:11including our Space Force, so we will do what we can to

00:16help you all.

00:18Admiral Kilby, I recognize the need to

00:21build a larger fleet.

00:23However, I have significant concerns about the Navy's basically dismal track record of maintaining ships and submarines in the

00:31current fleet.

00:32We consistently see delays, increased costs,

00:36ships without adequate crew, a lack of spare parts, and other issues.

00:41General Mahoney, it seems clear that maintaining amphibious ships is not a top Navy

00:48priority, and I do understand Ms. Morrow said that the Navy and the Marines need to come to an agreement on

00:54how these amphibious ships will be

00:56maintained, but how do delays in the Marine Corps' amphibious ship maintenance impact your ability to train and

01:04deploy Marines, and how would you be better supported by, and how could you be better supported by the Navy?

01:13Senator, thank you for the question. We are very concerned with

01:18the condition of the amphibious fleet and the availability of the amphibious fleet. This morning, I check it every morning,

01:24there were 13 of 32 amphibious ships available. In order to get to a goal of

01:323.0 mus, that is heel-to-toe mus

01:35combined with their amphibious shipping off the East Coast, one off the East Coast, one off the West Coast, and

01:41one in the FDNF, that number is not going to do it. I look at it in

01:48short, medium, and kind of longer term, perhaps, solution sets, and we're working closely

01:53with the Navy. Of course, we have to get to terms of reference.

01:57We can't classify a ship that hasn't sailed in 10 years and probably never will sail as an available ship of any class, much less

02:05an amphib.

02:07What I would say is we need to resource

02:11amphibious shipping to make it to their service lives and not decommission them early.

02:15Secondly, we have to get ahead of the maintenance curve. That means

02:19years ahead of port loading, of

02:22availability sequences, getting the avails in on time,

02:25making sure that we have the parts and the maintenance crews to maintain and get them out of the avails on time.

02:31More toward the midterm, we need to make every ship count with

02:36service life extensions and midlife upgrades.

02:39Thank you. I'm sorry to interrupt, but I think that your needs are being clearly articulated.

02:47And as Ms. Morris just said, we need to have,

02:50it sounds like a good suggestion to me, that the Navy and the Marine Corps need to get to

02:57an agreement on what we're going to do with the maintenance of these amphibious ships. To have only 13 out of 32

03:04available is what we say

03:07unacceptable. So as we sit here,

03:11can we have a commitment from

03:15the Navy that you are going to get into an agreement on this issue with the Marine Corps?

03:22Ranking Member Hirono, you have my commitment to that.

03:26We do brief off the same data, which is an improvement in the Navy and the Marine Corps.

03:31We have the same database, so we look at the things

03:34similarly from big deck amphibs to LPDs to LSDs. So to me, that's a start, but we have to do better.

03:40Thank you. I agree. You need to do better.

03:43Let me move on to General Mingus. Several of the critical training areas the Army uses in Hawaii,

03:48the main one being Pahakaloa on the Big Island, and the leases are set to expire in 2029. And these are

03:56vital. These leases are vital to ensure

03:59military forces can adequately train in the Pacific. And when we talk about the importance of the Indo-Pacific

04:04area, we obviously need our people to be trained. And so I would like to ask you, will you commit to

04:12continue engaging in good faith with state officials, because that's who you're negotiating these

04:18important leases with, and the community to ensure land

04:23retention is renegotiated in a way, at least

04:28negotiation, is done in a way that is fair to the state, the people of Hawaii, and the military?

04:37General Mingus?

04:38Absolutely, ma'am. We are committed to that. Since 2017, we've been working this. As you are well aware, over 500 town halls, meetings, various

04:47engagements that are out there.

04:482029 seems like a long ways away, but it'll be here tomorrow.

04:51I know that it's not.

04:53And so we will continue to and are committed to working this with you. And to the extent that a land swap may be in

04:58the offing, I do believe that we need to provide the Secretary of the Army with the authority for that. Is that correct?

05:05Yes, ma'am.

05:07Mr. Chairman, like you, I have a number of other questions. Could I just go over one minute? Sure. Thanks. Thank you.

05:14So, General Mingus, last year we spoke at this hearing about the Army's crumbling

05:19infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific region. In Hawaii, 50% of Army facilities are currently classified as

05:26failing or failed, and the cost to repair or replace them is over five billion dollars.

05:32However, the Army and other services are not using non-DOD funded

05:38contracting mechanisms, like energy savings performance contracts, to upgrade its infrastructure and

05:45lock in lower utility bills.

05:47What is the Army's plan to repair or replace infrastructure in Hawaii and in the Indo-Pacific?

05:54Ma'am, as we talked last year, there were significant investments in 23-24. We're committed to that for 25 and beyond.

06:00We know that the water and some of the critical infrastructure underneath a lot of these locations are failing.

06:06We actually think it's maybe in excess of five billion. We've committed over a billion for this next year.

06:13So, we absolutely want to work with you on those infrastructure, to include the leadership that goes with this as well.

06:20Kwajalein is an example where that was largely paid for with RDT and E-dollars.

06:24We've actually put a garrison commander there to make sure that the leadership, in addition to the resources, is there to fix these problems.

06:31I think the energy projects, for example, are important because the Army is the biggest user of it, and the military, DOD,

06:39Army in particular, is the biggest user of energy, and whatever sums you can save on energy costs as well can go to other needed,

06:48necessary projects. So, would you commit to clear the logjam on installation of energy projects funded through

06:56non-DOD

06:57contract mechanisms?

07:00Absolutely, take a look at that, ma'am. Yes, yes. Thank you. Thank you, Senator.

Mazie Hirono Grills Admiral On Navy's 'Dismal Track Record' Of Maintaining Amphibious Vessels

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