WASHINGTON, December 23. /TASS/. The two-and-a-half-year timeframe set for the construction of next-generation battleships under US President Donald Trump’s Golden fleet initiative may prove insufficient, Politico reported.

According to the newspaper’s sources in the defense industry, that schedule "would likely be next to impossible to meet, given the lack of engineering plans for the ship." As defense industry analyst Roman Schweizer noted, the plan is "extremely ambitious and, in some ways, running counter to the trend in unmanned and robotic maritime systems," that the Navy is focusing on. Politico writes that the US Navy has long struggled with meeting both a schedule and a budget when it comes to shipbuilding. Currently, all ships under construction are at least a year behind schedule. Shipyards have for years struggled with hiring and retaining enough employees to work their production lines. In addition, the new battleships will feature technologies that have never been integrated on a single ship before.

On Monday, Trump announced the plan to build three aircraft carriers, as well as 12 to 15 submarines to boost US naval power, along with two battleships carrying hypersonic and nuclear-armed cruise missiles. The American leader called it the Golden Fleet. Navy Secretary John Phelan, who spoke alongside Trump, said that the new class of ships will be named after the president.