Crs Report for Congress - Navy Aircraft Carriers: Proposed Retirement of USS John F. Kennedy - Issues and Options for Congress (Paperback)

In December 2004, the Department of Defense (DOD) issued a budget-planning document called Program Budget Decision (PBD) 753 that sets forth a number of adjustments to the FY2006 budget and FY2006-FY2011 Future Years Defense Plan (FYDP) that DOD is to submit to Congress in early February 2005. One of the adjustments is to retire the conventionally powered aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy (CV-67) in FY2006 and thereby reduce the size of the carrier force from 12 ships to 11. The Kennedy is homeported in Mayport, FL. The proposal would not retire any other ships or any of the Navy's carrier air wings. The issue for Congress is whether to approve, reject, or modify the proposal to retire the Kennedy and reduce the carrier force to 11 ships, should such a proposal appear in the FY2006 defense budget. PBD 753 estimates that retiring the Kennedy in FY2006 would reduce DOD funding requirements for FY2006-FY2011 by a net total of about $1.2 billion, or about 4% of the $30 billion in net savings proposed in PBD 753. Prior to PBD 753, the Navy's stated plan was to keep the Kennedy in operation until 2018. The Kennedy was scheduled to begin a $350-million, ...