Gates Shoots Across Navy's Bow Budget Speech

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday the Navy would need to reduce its reliance on multibillion-dollar ships and submarines amid deepening U.S. economic woes, a sign the run-up in defense spending sparked by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks may be coming to an end.

Mr. Gates didn't outline cuts to the Navy's overall ship-buying budget or any of its specific acquisition programs. But the Pentagon chief made clear he thought the Navy was buying too many big-ticket items, such as aircraft carriers, while failing to devote enough resources to unmanned submarines and other relatively inexpensive systems.

"We have to accept some hard fiscal realities," Mr. Gates told an audience of naval officers and defense contractors in National Harbor, Md. "We have to ask whether the nation can really afford a Navy that relies on $3 billion to $6 billion destroyers, $7 billion submarines and $11 billion carriers."

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