Mexico City, Feb 12 (Prensa Latina) The Cuban ambassador here, Eugenio Martínez, highlighted today the arrival on the island of two ships from Mexico with more than 800 tons of material aid, and expressed his gratitude to the North American country.

“The Havana coastline welcomes the two ships of the Mexican Navy with the material aid donated by #Mexico to #Cuba. Thank you, Mexico! Very soon the Cuban people will be in port,” the diplomat stated in a message through his account on the social network X.

Last Sunday, some 814 tons of basic food supplies and personal hygiene items departed for the Caribbean country from the port of Veracruz on the logistics support ships Papaloapan and Isla Holbox, of the Navy.

“The ships are arriving in Cuba today. As soon as they return, we will send more support of different kinds,” President Claudia Sheinbaum stated earlier during her usual meeting with the media.

Groups within society, such as the Militant Solidarity Collective "Go for Cuba" and the Association of Cubans Residing in Mexico, are also organizing to collect food supplies for Cuba, amidst a tightening of the blockade imposed by Washington.

US President Donald Trump signed the executive order on January 29 declaring a supposed national emergency and establishing a process to apply tariffs to goods from countries that supply crude oil to Cuba.

Organizations and authorities have warned that depriving Cuba of access to oil would paralyze the country and constitute collective punishment considered by international law as genocide and the greatest violation of human rights.

Diverse voices in Mexico and the rest of the world, from parliamentarians to social organizations and political parties, have spoken out in support of the Caribbean nation in the face of the United States' energy siege, described as unfair, cruel and anachronistic.

Nearly 200 more miles of the U.S. border with Mexico have been placed under Air Force supervision, enabling wider use of military force and heftier charges against people crossing illegally into the country. But experts wonder why the step is being taken as crossings plummet and heightened charges are thrown out by judges. Last June, Pentagon leaders announced that they would take charge of land along the final 250 miles of the Rio Grande, which had been administered by State Department employees on the International Boundary and Water Commission. Designated National Defense Area 3, the land was placed under the control of Joint Base San Antonio, which is operated by the Air Force. As with similar zones established last year, the NDA designation effectively turned the land into a military base that can be patrolled by troops. As well, trespassers are subject to misdemeanor charges related to illegally entering Defense Department property. On Friday, Air Force leaders announced that they have militarized two new swaths of land along the Rio Grande. One adds about 40 miles to the existing NDA 3, extending the zone upriver to Roma, Texas. The other is a 150-mile stretch from Falcon Dam to Del Rio that has been dubbed NDA 6. A press release from the office of Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said that the moves were intended to “strengthen interagency coordination and bolster security operations along the U.S. southern border.” It said the Department of the Air Force and U.S. Northern Command “will coordinate closely to support operational requirements and ensure effective installation management” and that Joint Task Force Southern Border troops are tasked with “temporarily detaining trespassers until they are transferred to the appropriate law enforcement authorities.”

Last month, the military began launching the Seasats Lightfish, a long-endurance autonomous surface vessel, into its portion of the Rio Grande to watch for border crossings. Other assets deployed to the southern border include UH-72 Lakota helicopters, C-130 Hercules and C-17 Globemaster transports, Stryker armored vehicles, the destroyer Cole, and thousands of U.S. troops. Since April, the Trump administration has created NDAs in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas as extensions of Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps bases. By July, they covered roughly one-third of the U.S.-Mexico border. Defense experts have questioned the expansion of the newest Air Force-controlled border zones, especially as administration officials boast that crossings have sunk to record-low levels. There were roughly 444,000 southwest border crossings by land last year, down from 2.1 million in 2024, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. “If you believe the administration's line that there's basically no more illegal immigration, it seems that the step is probably unnecessary. I can't really see a rationale for doing it,” said Jennifer Kavanagh, a senior fellow and director of military analysis at the Defense Priorities think tank. “The only reason to really do it is this continuing press to militarize Trump's foreign policy and Trump's approach to border security.”

Since the creation of the first militarized border zones last year, dozens of cases against people accused of crossing into the NDAs were thrown out by federal judges. Some magistrates argued the government hadn’t established enough probable cause that migrants had willingly intended to cross onto Defense Department property; others criticized the placement of the warning signs. As well, the militarization of the lands mean some communities are “effectively cut off from access to public lands,” the American Civil Liberties Union said in a September news release. The ACLU also warned that U.S. citizens may unexpectedly face federal trespassing charges as the NDAs grow. “For immigrant communities, the stakes are especially high: crossing into an NDA now means risking federal trespassing charges in addition to immigration charges,” the ACLU said in the release. “U.S. citizens, too, may face prosecution if they enter poorly marked areas while traveling, hiking, hunting, or working near the border.”

land of the free baybee

A gearbox failure forced a Marine Corps V-22 to make an emergency landing on Feb. 3, days before Navy leaders briefed lawmakers on fixes being implemented for the troubled tiltrotor aircraft. A MV-22B with the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing landed in the Tactical Flight Training Area on Oahu, Hawaii, “after experiencing an in-flight malfunction,” according to an emailed statement from the aviation wing. None of the crew was injured

but the aircraft will “require maintenance actions and repairs” before returning to its home station, the statement said. An investigation into the mishap is ongoing. A gearbox failure was the root cause of a 2023 Air Force Osprey crash that killed eight airmen and a 2022 crash that killed five Marines. Naval Air Systems Command confirmed in an emailed statement that the Osprey belonged to the wing’s VMM-268 squadron and added that “the aircrew executed the precautionary procedure in accordance with established standards, remaining fully committed to safety.” The incident happened a week before a Feb. 10 briefing about the Osprey program by Naval leaders to Congress. They discussed efforts to address recommendations in two watchdog reports released late last year, and said some of the permanent fixes won’t be fully implemented until the 2030s. News of the latest mishap was made public by Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn, during the hearing. “Your office was very good about notifying, I think, a number of us,” Courtney told Brig. Gen. David Walsh, NAVAIR’s program executive officer for air anti-submarine warfare, assault and special mission programs. “There was a crack in the gearbox that was detected just, actually, last week or so.”

Since 2022, four V-22 crashes have killed a total of 20 service members. Investigations blamed failures within the Osprey’s proprotor gearbox and sudden surges in power after a clutch slip, known as a hard clutch engagement. After the crashes, the Pentagon imposed range and other limits on V-22 flights. A person familiar with the Feb. 3 incident told Defense One that the MV-22B does not have the permanent mechanical solution for the gearbox yet and that it is flying in a restricted status. He said the interim gearbox on the aircraft was in its early flight hours. “It looks like this is going to be a situation where a gearbox failed within the realm of what we would expect because of the interim solution,” the person said. “Some of these gear boxes have that infant mortality where if something is going to happen, we expect it to happen within X amount of hours.”

uh... is "infant mortality" a widely used allegory about parts failure in the engineering field :huh:

In the Marine Corps’ 2026 aviation plan, released the same day as the House hearing, the service praises the Osprey as the “cornerstone” of its air-ground task forces. “The MV-22 Osprey provides unmatched operational flexibility due to its combination of speed, range, payload, and aerial refueling capability,” the document reads. The service began replacing its gearboxes this month and is “estimated to result in an unrestricted operational fleet by December 2027,” according to the service’s aviation plan. The gearbox upgrades are to be finished for the Air Force and Navy in 2029 and the Marine Corps in 2033, according to a Feb. 11 statement by NAVAIR. Vice Adm. John Dougherty, NAVAIR’s commander, told lawmakers on Tuesday that completely redesigned Input Quill Assemblies to remedy hard clutch engagements should be fielded in late 2027. The Marines plan to install its new assemblies in 2028, the service’s aviation plan said. In December, the Government Accountability Office and NAVAIR separately issued reports that said the V-22 Joint Program Office failed to adequately assess and address mounting safety risks, even as service members died. No Navy rotorcraft had more "systems safety risk assessments”—that is, unresolved catastrophic parts problems, the reports said. Only one other aircraft type—the F-35—had more than the V-22’s 28.

On Tuesday, Courtney told Navy leaders that the service “should explore the possibility of legislative action to codify elements of these recommendations,” akin to the late Sen. John McCain’s push for naval safety reforms after a string of ship collisions in 2017. That “would send a powerful message to our service members and the public that ‘real change is happening.’” he said.

The move comes amid pressure from the U.S. to expedite negotiations to end the war. On Wednesday, the Financial Times reported that Ukraine is preparing plans to hold a presidential election alongside a national referendum on a potential peace agreement with Russia. The move comes amid pressure from the U.S. to expedite negotiations to end the war.

“The Americans are proposing that the parties end the war by the beginning of this summer, and they will likely exert pressure on the parties in line with this timetable,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters last week. According to the FT report, Ukraine’s parliament would introduce legal changes in March and April to allow voting under wartime conditions.

The country remains under martial law, which currently prohibits national elections. Zelensky intends to announce the election and referendum plans on Feb. 24, the fourth anniversary of the start of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, the FT report said, citing officials involved in the planning.

The second round of U.S.-brokered talks between Russia and Ukraine concluded in Abu Dhabi on Thursday. Both sides agreed to a large-scale prisoner exchange but failed to achieve substantive breakthroughs on core issues such as territorial arrangements and a ceasefire.

Meanwhile, the European Parliament overwhelmingly backed a key financial aid package for Ukraine. A total of 90 billion euros (US$107 billion) in loans will fund Ukraine’s budget.

The loan is aimed at covering two-thirds of Ukraine’s financial needs for 2026 and 2027, according to media reports.

Industrial codevelopment of the French-German-Spanish Next-Generation Fighter (NGF) is almost certainly headed for collapse, with negotiations between Airbus and Dassault halted on the next phase of the project amid a long-running industrial dispute over leadership and workshare, an industry source said today. The future fighter jet is the driving force behind Europe’s multibillion-dollar Future Combat Air System that also includes development of new weapons, drone swarms, sensors and a “combat cloud” communications network. And though “no funeral” of FCAS is expected this week, clarity around launching the effort’s Phase 2 is needed, according to the industry source, who spoke on background on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference to bluntly discuss the state of negotiations. “Why negotiate” on Phase 2 when opposing views on cooperation exist between Airbus and Dassault?” asked the source. The new phase was planned to involve production and flight of a NGF demonstrator later this year, but once phase 1B finishes in April, NGF will be condemned to its end.

At a political level, outstanding issues are proving “more difficult than meets the eye,” said the industry source, pointing to delayed meetings between Berlin and Paris aimed at resolving issues and offering a new way forward. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Wednesday that the future of the program will be made clear soon, according to Reuters. Earlier this week French President Emmanuel Macron replied “Non” when media pressed him on whether FCAS is dead. While the jet agreement may be on the verge of collapse, the source did state that a restructuring of FCAS to focus on shareable technologies is still feasible — but two distinct fighter jets, one potentially developed by Germany and Spain, the other by France, forms the likeliest basis of new long-term industry planning. This approach would “make FCAS more resilient because the requirements of the [three] armed forces are different,” said the industry source, despite a clear understanding that since FCAS was launched in 2017, France has been eyeing a carrier capable future fighter while Germany was looking for more of an air superiority type.

Not everyone is sold on the prospect of Europe potentially investing in three future fighter jets, as Italy, the UK and Japan are also developing a platform under the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP). “It’s crazy. [We] have to stop this idea,” Theo Francken, Belgium’s Defense Minister told Breaking Defense today. “I think that’s too expensive to make three [different aircraft]. “It’s better to have one huge program” that includes a cloud network and Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA),” he added. Brussels holds FCAS observer status, but “we don’t have a lot of information,” about the latest political and industrial developments relating to the troubled project,” stressed Francken. “It is between the key players. … I’m not certain it will end up well. It will be problematic, I assume.”

FCAS isn’t the only program facing uncertainty. As the NGF heads for collapse, the fate of France’s participation in Europe’s Eurodrone program also looks increasingly uncertain, with the industry source stating that interest from Paris appears to be fading. Initially launched in 2016 and valued at an estimated cost of $7.3 billion, the Eurodrone Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) remotely piloted drone also involves Germany, Italy and Spain. The aircraft, which has been troubled by delays and inflated costs. The aircraft is under development for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance purposes and to reduce Europe’s reliance on non-European solutions like the US MQ-9B.

Colombian Senator Ivan Cepeda files a criminal complaint against ex-President Andres Pastrana over Epstein files. Colombian Senator Ivan Cepeda announced a criminal complaint against former President Andres Pastrana, whose name appeared in newly declassified documents from the Jeffrey Epstein case.

This decision follows the emergence of Pastrana’s name in recently declassified documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased U.S. financier accused of orchestrating a vast child sex trafficking network. Cepeda utilized his social media platforms to inform the public that the Colombian Prosecutor’s Office must launch an investigation into potential criminal conduct by the former head of state, based on the information unveiled by U.S. authorities.

“I announce that I will criminally denounce Andres Pastrana: In recent days, the media have reported that the former President of the Republic, Andres Pastrana Arango, appears in the files related to the pederast and sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein, that they account for the relationship he had with him and his partner and accomplice Ghisleine Maxwell, as well as the fact that, with the latter, he would have used property for the exclusive use of the public force. Therefore, I announce that I will file a criminal complaint against you, to investigate the possible punishable behavior you may have committed.”

This significant development comes on the heels of a massive declassification effort by the U.S. Department of Justice, which on January 30, made public nearly three million documents, two thousand videos, and 180,000 images linked to Epstein’s extensive network.

Official documents indicate that Andres Pastrana is referenced in at least 37 files. These include email exchanges from 2003 to 2004 with Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former partner and primary accomplice, as well as references to personal meetings and air travel.

Files Link Pastrana

Among the disclosed material, a photograph particularly stands out, depicting the former Colombian President alongside Maxwell, both embracing and dressed in uniforms of the Colombian Aerospace Force.

Furthermore, one of the revealed emails details a conversation concerning a purported trip to a U.S. city on a Continental Airlines flight.

Pastrana himself has publicly acknowledged traveling on Epstein’s private jet, infamously known as the “Lolita Express.” However, he has consistently maintained that at the time of these travels, the businessman “was not publicly recognized as a pedophile,” but rather as an investor with connections to diplomatic activities.

Investigation Escalates

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed the authenticity of the declassification, though she clarified that much of the material had already been leaked in prior years. Nevertheless, Bondi emphasized the critical importance of this publication, given that it constitutes officially validated information.

She further demanded that the FBI provide thousands of additional files as part of a projected second phase of the disclosure process, signaling that more revelations are anticipated. Bondi also clarified that the list of names does not represent a registry of “clients” but rather contacts and individuals associated with meetings, communications, or travel, with various personal data points appropriately censored to protect privacy where necessary.

The criminal complaint against Andres Pastrana initiates a new and highly controversial chapter in both judicial and political spheres, directly implicating a former president in one of the most profound scandals of sexual abuse and power of recent decades, compelling a closer look at accountability at the highest levels.

Dmitry Peskov says Moscow is in contact with Havana. On Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced that Russia is evaluating possible mechanisms to support Cuba in the face of the tightening U.S. blockade.

Peskov said Moscow is in contact with Cuban authorities to explore ways of providing assistance, although he did not specify what type of aid President Vladimir Putin’s government could offer from Russian territory. “Unfortunately, Cuba is far from us. It is not easy to get there. But even so, we will discuss with the Cubans possible ways to provide assistance,” the Kremlin spokesman said, emphasizing that the island is facing serious difficulties due to Washington’s hostile policies.

“In Cuba, the problem is not fuel. The problem is the U.S. blockade. I do not think it is right for one country to strangle another and its people,” Peskov said, referring to fuel shortages affecting basic services such as electricity supply, transportation, and health care. Previously, on Jan. 29, President Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring a “national emergency” on the grounds that Cuba represents an alleged “unusual and extraordinary threat” to U.S. national security.

He imposed tariffs on countries that supply oil to Cuba, arguing that the Caribbean nation is aligned with countries Washington considers hostile, allows the presence of groups designated as terrorists, and permits the deployment of “sophisticated military and intelligence capabilities” from Russia and China.

In response, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel firmly rejected the White House’s accusations, calling them unfounded and asserting that they are intended to justify the blockade the Caribbean nation has faced for decades.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also questioned U.S. pressure on Cuba and Venezuela. The top diplomat denounced Washington’s neocolonial practices and reaffirmed Moscow’s solidarity with the peoples of both countries.

“Remaining at the center of our attention is the fight against any neocolonial practice, from unilateral coercive measures to military interventions. In this context, we reaffirm our solidarity with the peoples of Venezuela and Cuba,” the foreign minister said.

The decision to send the Ford Carrier Strike Group (CSG) from the Caribbean to the Middle East was made after the Navy’s top officer said he would give “push back” against such an order over concerns about the welfare of the crew and the condition of the ship after being deployed for so long. The carrier departed Norfolk last June for the Mediterranean. It was later dispatched to the Caribbean last October by President Donald Trump to take part in a mission that ultimately resulted in the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. Trump’s new deployment order for the Ford came as he is considering whether to attack Iran amid ongoing negotiations and after sending the Abraham Lincoln CSG to U.S. Central Command area of operations. “I think the Ford, from its capability perspective, would be an invaluable option for any military thing the president wants to do,” Adm. Daryl Caudle, the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), told a small group of reporters, including from The War Zone, last month at the Surface Navy Association’s (SNA) annual symposium. “But if it requires an extension, it’s going to get some push back from the CNO. And I will see if there is something else I can do.” Caudle didn’t provide any specifics about what actions he would take to forestall an extension.

Regardless, the order to send the Ford CSG to the Middle East will extend its time away from its homeport even further. The ship won’t even get to the region until near the end of this month and it’s unclear how long it will be needed there, although Trump has mentioned something of a loose timeline. “I guess over the next month, something like that,” Trump said Thursday in response to a question about his timeline for striking a deal with Iran on its nuclear program. “It should happen quickly. They should agree very quickly.” There is also a chance that the Ford could be ordered to turn around should a deal be reached with Iran. Trump also said it would be “very traumatic” for Iran should no deal be reached. On Friday, Trump gave reporters his rationale for ordering the Ford to the Middle East. “We’ll need it if we don’t make a deal,” the U.S. president told reporters.

“The strike group’s current deployment has already been extended once, and its sailors were expecting to come home in early March,” The New York Times, which was first to report that the Ford was ordered to the Middle East, noted. “The new delay will further jeopardize the Ford’s scheduled dry dock period in Virginia, where major upgrades and repairs have been planned.”

NO MAINTENANCE, ONLY DEPLOYMENT

It is publicly unknown what discussions the CNO had with senior administration and Pentagon officials and whether he raised any objections or sought alternatives to keeping the Ford at sea longer than anticipated. We have reached out to his office and will update this story with any details provided. We also reached out to the White House and Joint Chiefs of Staff, which referred us to the CNO’s office. At the SNA conference, Caudle emphasized that there is a price to be paid for the strike group after being away from homeport for more than 200 days under often intense conditions. That was almost exactly a month ago. “I am a big non-fan of extensions, and because they do have significant impact,” Caudle explained. “Number one, I’m a sailors-first CNO. People want to have some type of certainty that they’re going to do a seven-month deployment.” Beyond affecting people, extensions also have a detrimental impact on the ship in addition to its previously noted dry dock schedule. “So now, when the ship comes back, we expected the ship to be in this level of state in which it was used during that seven-month deployment, when it goes eight, nine-plus months, those critical components that we weren’t expecting to repair are now on the table,” Caudle pointed out. “The work package grows, so that’s disruptive.”

In addition to the maintenance issues Caudle brought up at the SNA conference, the Ford also is also plagued by sewage issues. You can read more about how detrimental deferred maintenance is to carriers — or any U.S. Navy warship for that matter — that get their deployments extended in our deep dive here. It is not unusual for there to be two carriers deployed to the Middle East region. For instance, a year ago, the U.S. Navy had both the USS Harry S. Truman and the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carriers in the Middle East at the same time, engaged in combat operations against Yemen-based Houthi rebels. However, the Navy has 10 active carriers after the Nimitz, the service’s oldest, returned to port in December ahead of a scheduled decommissioning. There are scheduling and logistical support limits to how many can be out at sea at the same time without massive disruptions down the line. The USS Eisenhower, the last carrier to make an extended deployment, has seen its planned maintenance extended for a half year and counting as a result of the additional strain of being away from its home port for so long. The Navy’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget shows that work on the ship was supposed to have been completed last July, but it is still unfinished. The lack of availability reverberates across the rest of the fleet. That in turn limits the options commanders have when planning or preparing for contingencies and puts the overall carrier availability plan out of whack.

As for the rest of the fleet, three other carriers are in various maintenance periods taking them out of action for extended periods. In addition, the USS George Washington is forward deployed to Japan, two carriers are preparing for deployment and two are in post-deployment mode. The move to send the Ford to the Middle East comes amid a growing buildup of forces ahead of a potential conflict with Iran. In addition to the Ford, the Pentagon is also dispatching a peculiarly small number of Air Force tactical aircraft to the Middle East, joining a limited number of aircraft already there on land and sea.

The move to send the Ford to the Middle East comes amid a growing buildup of forces ahead of a potential conflict with Iran. In addition to the Ford, the Pentagon is also dispatching a peculiarly small number of Air Force tactical aircraft to the Middle East, joining a limited number of aircraft already there on land and sea. In addition to the Lincoln, there are also at least nine other warships in the region, including five Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyers. Submarines are also there, but their presence is not disclosed, and there are more than 30,000 troops on bases around the Middle East. Another CSG, with its embarked tactical aircraft and Aegis-equipped escorts, would certainly bolster America’s firepower in the Middle East. As we have frequently pointed out, even with the jets that are there and those arriving, there is not enough tactical airpower there now for a major sustained operation. A second CSG would provide significant help. It remains unknown what orders Trump will give or when, but a second carrier strike group in the region gives him more options.

also a few excerpts from the article about sewage trouble linked above, just to top this off

The world’s largest aircraft carrier is experiencing difficulties with a service that is an integral part of every sailor’s life — the bathroom. ... The complications primarily involve the Ford’s vacuum collection, holding and transfer system, or VCHT, which transports and disposes wastewater by sucking fecal matter through pipes using pressure. ... NPR also reportedly obtained copies of emails that showed there were 205 breakdowns with the toilets over a span of four days. One of the emails placed the onus on sailors and said they were mistreating and destroying the sewage system. Carter confirmed to Military Times in an emailed statement that the Ford averaged about one maintenance call per day and that those calls were often the result of “improper materials being introduced to the system.”

what are the sailors flushing down those toilets

The bathroom issues aboard the Ford, meanwhile, are not a new phenomenon. A 2020 Government Accountability Office report pointed out that the sewage pipes woven throughout the ship were too narrow to properly serve the flushes of the 4,000-plus crew members onboard. To unclog the toilets, the Navy has been forced to spend $400,000 per flush of a unique acidic chemical designed to flush out and unburden the strained pipes.

Deliver what we ask for on time. That’s the terse message two maritime service chiefs are sending to industry. “What I need is: when I have a contract with you, you deliver it on time. That's really what I need. I don't know how to sugarcoat that. It's impossible to sugarcoat that. I need my stuff on time,” Adm. Daryl Caudle, chief of naval operations, told attendees Wednesday at the annual WEST Conference. “We just have to be very transparent about that. So I'd rather, you know, go into that contracting strategy and negotiation with that in mind, and be very honest about that.” Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith agreed: “If it's going to be delayed, well, that's a you problem. That's not a me problem, because I paid for something and I expect to get it.”

dang, if only there was some way for the government to hold corporations accountable... shame no such concept exists!

Smith, who shared the stage with Caudle, said the goal is to buy what Marines need at the “best cost.” “I know what I need. I'm a recovering requirements officer. I need a missile that shoots [200] miles. If you have something that you can give me for the same cost and on the same performance, same schedule, but it goes 250 miles, then that's great. I'll take it,” Smith said, as an example. The service chiefs acknowledged how erratic government funding and single-year appropriations affect private industry. “We do owe industry a time horizon [where] they can stabilize their workforce,” Caudle said. “I don't know why I don’t have a five-year horizon with the shipyards that do my surface ship maintenance,” which could give companies the time to plan ahead. Smith pushed the need for multi-year funding, suggesting the services and industry sync messaging to Capitol Hill to advocate for it. Congress “can appropriate multi-year funding” but doesn’t like to, Smith said. The result is single-year funding that could mean “$100 million this year and it's nothing the next year. And you can't, you can't operate that way. So I think we have to collaborate…on our messaging to the Hill that, ‘Hey, we need multi-year funding.”

‘Everything costs what it costs’

Keeping costs down without sacrificing quality or on-time delivery is a longstanding conundrum for military procurement. But while there’s general reticence towards higher costs, especially for large platforms like ships, it’s a reality the Navy must accept, Smith said. “I don't want to pay, you know, $4 billion for a ship. Neither does my shipmate [Adm.] Daryl Caudle, but that's what it costs to have pipefitters, steamfitters, welders, electricians build the ship,” and have a livable wage, Smith said. “Everything costs what it costs.” Smith’s comments come as shipbuilders look to boost wages—with some reports of success—as a way to attract and keep the workers essential to meeting maritime national security needs. But simply increasing wages may not be enough, argued Ronald O'Rourke, a recently retired naval analyst and researcher for the Congressional Research Service. Those wages need to be at a level that distinguishes shipbuilding not only from competing sectors in a given region, but from other manufacturing jobs. “It's widely recognized that to attack this issue, wages and benefits need to be increased to help re-establish a larger wage differential between shipbuilding jobs and service sector jobs. Less widely recognized is that wages and benefits also need to be increased to help establish more of a wage differential between shipbuilding jobs and other manufacturing jobs. The government reported last year that there were about 400,000 manufacturing jobs that were unfilled,” O’Rourke said during a separate shipbuilding panel Wednesday.

Those same skilled workers may also be lured by the boom in AI data centers nationwide.

lol. lmao

In a report to the White House in October, OpenAI claimed data centers and energy infrastructure would need about 20 percent of the nation’s existing skills trade workforce over the next five years. “So people interested in going into manufacturing and construction work have a choice of jobs—and a lot of those jobs are done in settings that are more comfortable than shipbuilding,” O’Rourke said.