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GAO-05-39R 1 (2004-11-19)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptaqqk0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Accountablilty * Integrity Reliabil ty United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548 November 19, 2004 The Honorable Roscoe G. Bartlett Chairman, Subcommittee on Projection Forces Committee on Armed Services House of Representatives Subject: Information on Options for Naval Surface Fire Support Dear Mr. Chairman: Land-, air-, and sea-based components form the fires triad that is used to support Marine Corps amphibious assault operations. The sea-based part of the fires triad is referred to as Naval Surface Fire Support (NSFS). From World War II until the Persian Gulf War in 1991, NSFS resided mainly in the capability of the 16-inch guns on the Navy's Iowa class battleships. The thick armor of these battleships and the 24-nautical-mile range of their 16-inch guns gave the battleships increased survivability in high-threat scenarios. The last Iowa class battleship was decommissioned in 1992. Their retirement left a void in the NSFS part of the fires triad. To field a replacement NSFS capability, the Navy developed a two-phased plan in 1994. In the near-term to midterm, it would modify the capability of 5-inch guns on existing destroyers and cruisers, and develop extended-range guided munitions for the modified 5-inch gun. In the far term, it would field a sufficient number of new destroyers fitted with an even-longer- range advanced gun system and ultimately a very-long-range electromagnetic gun or Rail Gun. However, in 1996, congressional authorizers became concerned that the Navy would not be able to produce a replacement NSFS capability comparable to the battleships until well into the twenty-first century. In that year's Defense Authorization Act,' the Congress directed the Secretary of the Navy to restore at least two Iowa class battleships to the naval vessel registry until a capability was developed equal to or greater than that provided by the battleships. By 1999 the Navy had placed the Iowa and Wisconsin battleships back on the naval vessel registry and has been maintaining them in an inactive state since then. 1 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-106, Sec. 1011. GAO-05-39R Options for NSFS Page I

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