28.09.2020 10:52

The US Navy Will Be Drowned In Money. New Promises As A Driver For Leidos And General Dynamics

US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper recently announced the need to fund the construction of new ships as the US Navy prepares to face a mounting confrontation in the Pacific. Tens of billions of dollars can be spent for the construction of new ships making shipbuilders General Dynamics Corporation (GD, NYSE) and Leidos Holdings, Inc. (LDOS, NYSE) as the beneficiaries. The Pentagon believes the main reason for the urgent need to increase the Navy is the growth of the Chinese navy. According to CSIS, the Chinese Navy, which included 57 destroyers and frigates in 1996, had 355 such ships in 2019. According to forecasts, the Chinese fleet of destroyers and frigates will exceed 425 units by 2030. For comparison, the United States currently has 296 ships of such types. According to the head of the US military, China is currently selected as the number one strategic rival, and appropriate measures are required to increase the American naval forces. The Pentagon has required for more than $ 200 billion for the Navy in the US military budget for 2021. But there are no extra funds for this year, so it is planned to use the saved $ 5.7 billion, as well as unspent funds for the construction. But this is obviously not enough. Earlier Ffin.ru talked about the extremely high cost of operating modern American ships, in addition to the extremely high cost of the ships themselves. It should be borne in mind that the total cost of the life cycle of a ship correlates approximately like this: 30% is the cost of construction and 70% is the cost of operation. Simply put, even a successful $ 1 billion ship will end up costing the US Navy more than $ 3 billion over its lifetime. Therefore, the US will have to look for cheaper ways to create parity. First of all, these are robotic ships, including anti-submarine ships by Leidos. The leading US shipbuilder General Dynamics may also become a beneficiary, since manned ships are still needed to support aircraft carrier strike groups, provide missile defense and air defense, strike ground targets and other tasks. On September 25, GD share was trading at $ 138.21, and LDOS share was trading at $ 91.98.