트럼프, 비용상승을 이유로 미해군의 콘스털레이션급 프리깃 프로그램을 비판

[위종민]

트럼프가 1월 6일 한 라디오 프로그램에서 본인이 이전에 재임할 때 채택한 콘스털레이션급 프로그램을 바이든 행정부 기간 동안 미해군이 각종 설계변경을 가해 비용상승을 유발했다고 비판했습니다. 

또한 구체적인 세부사항을 밝히지는 않고, 미해군의 함대 규모를 늘리겠다고 예고했네요. 

Trump slams Navy's frigate program over cost increases - Breaking Defense

Trump slams Navy's frigate program over cost increases - Breaking Defense

Trump slams Navy’s frigate program over cost increasesThe president-elect has taken a personal interest in other specific Pentagon programs in the past, such as the presidential aircraft.

By   Justin Katzon January 06, 2025 at 3:36 PM

Graphic rendering of the future USS Lafayette (FFG 65), named in honor of Marquis de Lafayette and his service during the American Revolutionary War. The Constellation-class guided-missile frigate represents the Navy’s next generation small surface combatant. (Photo by Chief Petty Officer Shannon Renfroe)

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump criticized the management of the US Navy’s Constellation-class frigate program today following cost increases due to what he called people “playing around and tinkering and changing the design.”

In an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt, Trump appeared to refer to a deal originally struck in 2020 during his first administration between the Pentagon and the American arm of Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri for the new class of ships.

“And they were going and really doing a good job, and the generals, you know, the Biden admirals and generals and all of the people that are involved, they started playing around and tinkering and changing the design, and this, you know, that costs. That costs a lot of money,” Trump said, according to a transcript of the interview posted on Hewitt’s website.

“But the generals or the admirals went in and they said oh, why don’t we make it a little bit wider? Why don’t we do this? Why don’t we do that? And it was designed specifically for speed and other things. When you start making it wider, you start making it slower,” Trump continued, insisting the Pentagon should have purchased and built the ship without any changes made to the original design.

“We had it down, and they made changes. They always have to make changes. You know, these guys get in there, and they think they’re smart, and in many cases, unfortunately, they’re not smart, and they take something and they make it worse for a lot more money. That’s what they do. I mean, they spend more money to make it worse,” he said.

Elsewhere in the interview, Trump praised his nominee for Navy Secretary, John Phelan, as a “successful business person.”

During his first administration, Trump took a personal interest in specific Pentagon programs at times, such as the presidential aircraft better known as Air Force 1. Robert O’Brien, Trump’s national security advisor from 2019 to 2021, was known to be a Navy hawk and proponent for increasing shipbuilding cadences.

A number of Trump’s GOP allies on Capitol Hill, such as Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who now leads the Senate Armed Services Committee, used Trump’s first term in office to codify into federal a law a mandate for the US Navy to maintain a fleet of 355 warships — a requirement the service still far from meeting.

Without disclosing specific details, Trump also foreshadowed a desire to rapidly grow the Navy’s fleet size.

“We’re going to be announcing some things that are going to be very good having to do with the Navy. We need ships. We have to get ships. And you know, everybody said oh, we’ll build them. We may have to go to others, bid them out, and it’s okay to do that. We’ll bid them out until we get ourselves ready,” he said.