NORFOLK – Details on the possible move of an aircraft carrier from Norfolk to Florida aren’t specifically laid out in the draft copy of the Pentagon's Quadrennial Defense Review 2010.
However, it is definitive about the need to spread out the carrier fleet so the Navy's five east coast carriers aren't all at Naval Station Norfolk.
To achieve "strategic dispersal," the military will "provide an alternative port to dock east coast aircraft carriers to mitigate the risk of a man-made or natural disaster," the 88-page draft report states.
The December 3, 2009 draft doesn’t specifically mention Mayport, which has long been the Navy’s second port of choice. The Florida base hasn't had a carrier since the conventionally-powered USS John F. Kennedy left in 2007 and was decommissioned.
The east coast carriers are nuclear-powered and the Navy has estimated it would need to spend $550 million-plus on Mayport for dredging, new facilities to maintain nuclear propulsion plants and other improvements.
Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) says it's too early to assume the draft is set in stone, but he believes relocating a nuclear aircraft carrier is not anywhere near the top of the list in terms of strategic imperatives of the United States military.
"We have already put money in place to improve the dredging down in Mayport and to do some pier upgrades in the event that the port area might be used for something that is not a nuclear aircraft carrier or for port of call. But we are talking about putting a billion dollars into Mayport in order to upgrade it in a way that it would permanently accommodate a nuclear carrier. There’s never been a strategic imperative since 1961 that would say that is a strategic necessity. "
"If you want to look at the strategic viability of the Navy, if you don’t have enough ships in your Navy you’ve got a strategic problem, if ship repairs and modernization can’t be paid for or aircraft can’t be procured or weapons systems can’t be fueled, those are real strategic issues that we’re facing with the huge backlogs of the budget. So, the bottom line is that it’s premature to talk about this QDR but I think the Pentagon understands our concerns," he stated.
A permanent move would cost the region 11,000 jobs and $650 million, according to a Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce estimate.
On Friday, Defense Secretary Roberts Gates announced the appointment of a congressionally-mandated independent panel to review the QDR.
The bipartisan panel is required by law to submit by July 2010 a report to Congress assessing the QDR, its recommendations, stated and implied assumptions, and any vulnerabilities of the strategy and force structure underlying the report.
The panel's assessment will include analyses of trends, asymmetries, and concepts of operations that characterize the military balance with potential adversaries, focusing on the strategic approaches of possible opposing forces.
The panel consists of 20 members, eight of whom are selected by Congress.
The 12 members announced by the secretary of defense are:
-William J. Perry, co-chair
-Stephen J. Hadley, co-chair
-Richard L. Armitage
-Jack Dyer Crouch II
-Rudy F. deLeon
-Joan A. Dempsey
-Sherri W. Goodman
-Retired Navy Adm. David E. Jeremiah
-Retired Army Gen. George A. Joulwan
-Alice C. Maroni
-Retired Marine Lt. Gen. Paul Van Riper
-Retired Air Force Gen. Larry D. Welch
Members appointed by Congress are:
-Charles Curtis
-Eric S. Edelman
-Retired Army Gen. John (Jack) Keane
-Richard H. Kohn
-John F. Lehman Jr.
-Retired Army Lt. Col. John Nagl
-Retired Army Maj. Gen. Robert H. Scales Jr.
-James M. Talent
