SENSE OF CONGRESS ON AIRCRAFT CARRIER PROCUREMENT SCHEDULES.

SEC. 127. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON AIRCRAFT CARRIER PROCUREMENT SCHEDULES. (a) Findings.—Congress finds the following: (1) In the Congressional Budget Office report titled “An Analysis of the Navy’s Fiscal Year 2016 Shipbuilding Plan”, the Office stated as follows: “To prevent the carrier force from declining to 10 ships in the 2040s, 1 short of its inventory goal of 11, the Navy could accelerate purchases after 2018 to 1 every four years, rather than 1 every five years”. (2) In a report submitted to Congress on March 17, 2015, the Secretary of the Navy indicated the Department of the Navy has a requirement of 11 aircraft carriers. (b) Sense of Congress.—It is the sense of Congress that— (1) the plan of the Department of the Navy to schedule the procurement of one aircraft carrier every five years will reduce the overall aircraft carrier inventory to 10 aircraft carriers, a level insufficient to meet peacetime and war plan requirements; and (2) to accommodate the required aircraft carrier force structure, the Department of the Navy should— (A) begin to program construction for the next aircraft carrier to be built after the U.S.S. Enterprise (CVN-80) in fiscal year 2022; and (B) program the required advance procurement activities to accommodate the construction of such carrier.