The threat of a U.S. war with China is far greater than commonly understood. Most U.S. military and intelligence analysts believe Xi Jinping is likely to conduct an invasion of Taiwan by 2030. Tensions in the South China Sea are escalating in tandem, as China attempts to dominate trillions of dollars’ worth of international trade flows militarily.
But there are those in Washington who seem determined to help China win the coming war. Some, as Jimmy Quinn outlines, are in the private sector. They put profit before patriotism. But some are members of Congress. They put cronyism before patriotism. Two members of that inauspicious class (let’s call it the PLA swamp caucus) are Reps. John Rutherford (R-FL) and Rob Wittman (R-VA). Take the two Republicans’ determined fight to save the littoral combat ship.
They helped assure that the House passed a National Defense Authorization Act on Thursday that saves five of the nine LCSs. Democratic Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Adam Smith had brought an amendment on Wednesday to decommission all nine of the LCSs as the Navy desires. Unfortunately, it failed in a 208-221 vote.
Those 221 members of the House made a big mistake. It’s a mistake that says much about the very sorry state of the military-industrial complex. After all, the LCS is totally incapable of doing what the Navy needs all its warships to do. Which is to say, survive high-tempo combat operations against Communist China’s People’s Liberation Army.
Don’t take my word for it — take the word of the U.S. military commander responsible for China. Adm. John Aquilino recently told Congress that he needs warships that have “the critical capabilities of being able to operate in contested space.” The Navy has its issues, but Aquilino is deadly accurate here. “Dead” being the operative word. Because if Aquilino is ignored, young American sailors will die, and the nation may lose a war. And with that loss, likely the political destiny of the 21st century.
The LCS represents the antithesis of what the nation needs. Measured against the PLA, the LCSs represent only very expensive Navy graveyards and coral reefs in waiting. This is no joke. The LCS is greatly underarmed, beset by malfunctions, and unable to survive in any proximity of PLA air, missile, and submarine forces. Considering the Navy has a deep shortage of warships capable of actually succeeding against the PLA, it is unconscionable that Congress has now saved these junk ships.
Rutherford and Wittman disagree.
In an excellent article, the Detroit News’s Melissa Burke reports on Rutherford’s and Wittman’s excuses for saving the ships. Indeed, Rutherford told Burke that he wants to save all nine of the LCSs in defense act reconciliation talks with the Senate. As Burke reports, Rutherford “maintained that the Navy has a need for smaller ships that are fast, mobile and can get into shallower waters where destroyers and frigates can’t go.” Rutherford told her, “I think we should keep them in our fleet, so we have that fleet mix that the Navy wants to have.”
This is totally disingenuous. If an LCS enters the South China Sea or the East China Sea during a war with China, their crews will die without any mission success. Again, young Americans will die for no reason. Moreover, for just that reason, the Navy explicitly wants to scrap all these ships. Rutherford is lying when he says these ships serve a “fleet mix” that “the Navy wants to have.” Rutherford wants the ships saved because some are home-ported in his district. His is a pure and pathetic cronyism.
Equally pathetic is Wittman’s defense of the ships. He tells Burke that “if you get rid of this ship, you have nothing, and the replacement for this ship is six years out. You can’t fight something with nothing. It has its challenges. Let’s fix those challenges. Let’s get this ship operational. Let’s get it out there.”
Again, it’s utterly disingenuous. The challenges can’t be fixed because the LCS is inherently incapable of fighting the PLA. It might be able to fight Somali pirates, but only at excessive cost. Top line: Saving these ships is worse than nothing because it will drain funds, personnel, and port space that the Navy needs for other missions. You know, like actually preparing to fight China in a way that offers a chance of victory.
Put simply, this is an unpatriotic disgrace. Democratic Rep. Elise Slotkin said it best to Burke: “I see the desire to keep certain platforms that the military wants to retire as part of Congress putting parochial needs ahead of the needs of the country in preparing for 21st-century threats.”
The nation must remember Rutherford, Wittman, and the 219 others in Congress who voted down Smith’s amendment in favor of cronyism.
