Navy League 2025: US Navy continues to push for combat surge-ready force

USS Dwight D Eisenhower , shown here operating in the Red Sea in June 2024, is slated for maintenance. US Navy officials cite recent efforts to finish such work in a timely manner. (Janes/Michael Fabey)

The US Navy (USN) is relying on maintenance improvement measures to help the service reach its 80% combat surge-ready fleet goals, according to service officials.

New Navy Secretary John Phelan has cited readiness as his priority.

For more information, please seeNavy League 2025: New navy secretary cites readiness as priority .

“Eighty per cent is an ambitious goal, but ambition is necessary to force change,” Admiral James Kilby, acting chief of Naval Operations (CNO), said on 7 April during a panel on readiness at the Navy League Sea-Air-Space 2025 annual conference and symposium.

“We're at 67% combat surge-ready for submarines today,” he said. “We're at 68% combat surge-ready for surface ships today. We're at 70% combat surge-ready for CVNs [aircraft carriers] and air wings. My goal is to get to 80%. I have to really understand the system. I have to understand where the bottlenecks are, where the opportunity lies. In order to achieve this magnitude of change, I will likely have to put the rudder over hard.”

Speaking during the same panel, Vice Admiral Brendan McLane, commander, Naval Surface Force, said, “To get to 80% combat-surge readiness, [although] it's the counter-intuitive, we're going to actually have to do more maintenance.”

Vice Adm McLane added, “But we're going to have to do it in a more predictable way, shorter time spans, shorter avails, more frequently. It is going to be an investment. It is going to be more expensive. But with an average age of the fleet that is increasing, it's wise to do that.”