Defence Cuts And Congress' Inability To Pass A Budget Have Grounded Much Of The Fleet

As many as two thirds of the Navy's fleet of F/A-18 Hornets have been grounded due to lack of maintenance, according to Navy officials.

Defense News reports that the inability of Congress to pass a budget over the past several years has led to severe shortfalls in maintenance for aircraft, as well as other priorities. Many of the grounded aircraft are waiting for parts to be delivered from the Navy's aviation depot backlog.

Congress has not produced a budget for nine consecutive years, relying instead on Continuing Resolutions to keep the government running. But CRs, as they are called, do not allow for funding of new projects that were not included in the previous year's budget, and other restrictions are placed on the money. Combine that with budget reductions mandated early in the Obama administration, and it adds up to major problems.

The Budget Control Act ... more commonly called sequestration ... will be in effect until 2021 unless it is repealed by Congress.

Budget hearings in the House and Senate Armed Services Committees are planned over the next few weeks. A senior navy source said that if they get any money at all, "the first thing we’re going to do is throw it into the places we can execute it. All of those places are in ship maintenance, aviation depot throughput — parts and spares."

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