Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle told reporters yesterday that, in his estimate, the Navy needs between $6 and $8 billion above what was budgeted for the current fiscal year “to be whole and solvent for [Fiscal Year] 26,” reported Military Times. In doing so, he confirmed some elements of a Navy budget crisis EIR reported here on Friday but sought to downplay the seriousness of the crisis.
Caudle said costs for personnel are ballooning with what the Navy claims are record numbers of reenlistments while in combat theater, which come with unplanned bonuses to dole out and military moves that need to be funded. That money, he said, is coming out of the account that funds the modernization of Navy land-based infrastructure, including housing for sailors. The Navy has reportedly denied earlier reports that said the Navy was looting payroll accounts in order to fund operations, which accounts in turn were being drained by the constant operational demands of the Iran war.
