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What a shock. According to the newly released budget, the Pentagon wants to slow down America’s aircraft carriers. You may be thinking: no carrier, no "Top Gun," no "Maverick." How we’d miss those thriller movies.

But the facts are even worse. Delaying aircraft carriers courts disaster at a time when their deterrence value is higher than ever. The Navy has a budget plan for new aircraft carriers that can launch drones, carry lasers and face down China, but President Joe Biden’s budget took out so much money that the whole aircraft carrier plan may fall apart.

I can’t remember when I’ve seen such a policy and reality mismatch.

CHINA WARNED AS PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT PROPOSES COUNTERMEASURES AGAINST BEIJING'S AGGRESSION

Moving two aircraft carriers into place was vital to bottling up Iran and protecting deployed U.S. forces after the Hamas attack on Israel. The first thing Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin did was send the USS Gerald R. Ford from the Aegean Sea to a combat position near Lebanon. Next the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower surged from her homeport in Norfolk, Virginia, to add more firepower near the Red Sea.

The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford was the first of the new class of carriers. But sister ships could be delayed by budget cuts. (Andrej Tarfila/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The deterrence value of Navy aircraft carriers has never been higher. Don’t take my word for it. Back in December, Austin made a special trip to the USS Dwight Eisenhower, praising the action of her sailors and airmen. "Sometimes our greatest achievements are the bad things we stop from........

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