Adm. Daryl L. Caudle, the chief of naval operations, testifies during a Senate Armed Services committee hearing on Tuesday, May 19, 2026, in Washington. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
Navy officials told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that their service’s share of the Pentagon’s $1.5 trillion budget request was an attempt to counter what they described as decades of underspending while adversaries escalated challenges around the world.
“While our industrial base atrophied, America’s peer competitors grew stronger and threatened our sovereignty,” Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao said. “Their 100-year plan has one goal: total global domination. But one thing stands in their way, and that is the United States of America. The Navy and Marine Corps are America’s 9-1-1 force, capable of being anywhere as a carrier strike group or Marine Air-Ground Task Force with overwhelming firepower.”
Cao, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle, and Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith appeared at the hearing to support the Department of the Navy’s $377.5 billion budget request.
Cao said the budget includes $68.5 billion for 34 new ships and five unmanned ships, with plans to add 122 manned and 63 unmanned ships over the next 5 years. The plan calls for spending $50 billion annually to offset the effects of slower ship construction over the past 25 years.
Cao announced the Pentagon on Tuesday had approved initial production and deployment of the uncrewed MQ-25A Stingray to be used for aerial refueling tasks now done by manned F/A-18 Super Hornet aircraft.
Sen. Jack Reed, of Rhode Island, the ranking Democrat on the committee, cautioned Cao and the service leaders about spreading military funding across a defense budget and additional reconciliation legislation.
“Everything is a priority, because we need unmanned systems, we need submarines, we need ships, we now need auxiliary ships,” Cao said. “We also need quality of life for our sailors and Marines, and this is why we need this whole bill, sir, whether you pay it as one bill or two separate bills.”
Cao said he was “agnostic” about how the money was divided among the overall $1.5 trillion in defense spending requests.
“Reconciliation doesn’t always become reality,” Reed cautioned.
Caudle said he was pleased with what is “baked into the bill.”
“I think this budget goes a long way — it’s generational in what it’s trying to do — to ensure we don’t have a hollow Navy,” Caudle said. “We’ll have a ready Navy.”
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric M. Smith testifies during a Senate Armed Services committee hearing on Tuesday, May 19, 2026, in Washington. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
Smith said keeping three Amphibious Ready Groups is “our North Star.” Shortages of deployable ships, equipment and personnel are “what keeps me up at night,” he said.
“The ARG, the amphibious ready group with Marine Expeditionary Units embarked, is the most agile, versatile, and responsive formation of the joint force, hands down,” Caudle said.
Republican and Democratic senators said their concern included ensuring large sums of public funds are spent on programs that are ready to perform.
Faster design, streamlined construction, a stable workforce, and a consistent, high demand for new ships are key ways for the United States to dig “out of the hole” of delayed and overpriced Navy ship programs, said Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., chairman of the committee.
“Previous shipbuilding plans were not based on realistic assumptions about industrial base growth and cost,” Wicker said. “Those plans assumed a world at peace, not one that demands active deterrence.”
Other issues lawmakers raised:
Advancing educational and worker training programs so that the industrial base ensures ships are made in the United States by American workers.
Allocating funds, setting hard deadlines and including incentives to accelerate the delivery of Virginia-class attack submarines and Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines.
Continuing funding and research on sea-launched nuclear cruise missiles.
Supporting DARPA’s artificial blood and synthetic platelet program for the Marine Corps to field room-temperature blood products on the battlefield.
Continuing to develop lightweight drones and counter-drone systems that can be thrown or launched by small teams in combat.
Working to extend H-2B visas for workers in Guam and at other Pacific island installations that need construction and shipyard labor.
Constructing or renovating installations in the Aleutian Islands to counter increased Russian and Chinese activity in the Arctic.
