nited States Senate WASHINGTON, DC 20510 April 28, 2017 ‘The Honorable James Mattis Secretary of Defense 1000 Defense Pentagon Washington, DC 20301 ‘Dear Secretary Mattis, {As the Department of Defense finalizes its budget request for Fiscal Year 2018, we are eager to work with you as you undertake a major expansion of the entire fleet, We are committed to ensuring that the United States Navy is best equipped to meet every future challenge. To that end, we support a budget request which includes adequate funding for the construction of three Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) ships. in accordance with the Navy's December 2016 Force Structure Assessment. ‘The opportunity exists in the LCS program now to ensure industrial base stability at two shipyards and also among the 1,200 suppliers in 45 states and the greater than 21,000 men and women who support this important work. Leveraging these current investments is a good deal for the U.S. taxpayer and will provide greater capability to our fleet in a shorter time frame. [At the same time, we are concemed that a funding level lower than this will risk interruptions to the highly trained workforce currently employed, that would take time and funding to reconstitute. We are also concerned that such a disruption could needlessly add costs and time as the Navy builds towards the President's stated goal of achieving a 350 ship Navy. ‘Thank you for your consideration of our views, we look forward to continuing to work together on this and other issues important to equipping the United States Navy. Sincerely, L ott eam — l or in Luther Strange Ron Jofinst United States Senator United\States Senator my Baldwin Bill Nelson United States Senator, United States Senator 4M. < Zs. Marco Rubio Gary Peter United States Senator United States Senator Richard Shelby Debbie Stabenow United States Senator United States Senator