INTERVIEW – CAPTAIN CHUCK NASH – Retired U.S. Navy Captain, FOX News military analyst and retired from the Navy in 1998 after serving more than 25 years as a naval aviator.

• Nearly two-thirds of Navy planes grounded due to years of budget cuts . Overall, more than half the Navy’s aircraft are grounded, most because there isn’t enough money to fix them. Additionally, there isn’t enough money to fix the fleet’s ships, and the backlog of ships needing work continues to grow.
• Military brass appeals to House Armed Services Committee to end sequestration. Pleading for a repeal of a law that strictly limits defense spending, a panel of four-star military officers warned congressional lawmakers Tuesday that fiscal constraints are crippling the military’s ability to respond to threats. The officers presented a message to the House Armed Services Committee that appears to grow grimmer each time it’s delivered. Each of the services gave to Congress plans for increasing the 2017 defense budget by more than $30 billion. The informal proposals, obtained by The Associated Press, represent the first attempt by President Donald Trump’s Defense Department to halt the erosion of the military’s combat readiness Adm. Bill Moran, the vice chief of naval operations, said more than half of all Navy aircraft are grounded because they’re awaiting maintenance or lack needed spare parts. The figure is higher among its F/A-18 fighter jets, which have been pushed “well beyond” their lifespan during the last 15 years and require double the amount of time to fix, Moran said.