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| Acquisition Chief: LCS Program 'Broke' the Navy |
| 2016-12-03 |
| The Navy's littoral combat ship is costing taxpayers billions more than budgeted, failing survivability assessments, and may never live up to the original vision for the program, a panel of Navy and government oversight officials told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday. The hearing, which focused on continued testing and acquisition of the small surface vessels, came at the close of a 12-month period in which five of the eight littoral combat ships in service have suffered major mechanical and engineering casualties. Navy officials have ordered dramatic program overhauls and reviews of ship employment and training in response to the breakdowns. And despite the program's underperformance, costs continue to skyrocket, testified Paul Francis, managing director of acquisition and sourcing management at the Government Accountability Office. The ship's unit cost has more than doubled from $220 million to $478 million apiece, and plans to conduct a "block buy" of 12 redesigned littoral combat ships, to be called frigates, will put taxpayers on the hook for nearly $14 billion, he wrote in a GAO report released Thursday. |
| Posted by:Blossom Unains5562 |
| #8 Leadership starts at the top. You figure out who that is. That's my take as well, between this and the F-35 clusterfucks (and trying to kill off the A-10). It's not just the Navy. |
| Posted by: Raj 2016-12-03 13:10 |
| #7 Pappy, this is what happens when the people in charge don't treat things like a war is just around the corner. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2016-12-03 12:04 |
| #6 S'what happens when you haven't been in a real war in 70 years. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2016-12-03 11:32 |
| #5 Leadership starts at the top. You figure out who that is. |
| Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 2016-12-03 10:10 |
| #4 Hey, all the senior officers got spiffy medals at retirement or PCS. Short and Kimmel couldn't be reached for comment. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2016-12-03 09:29 |
| #3 Bad design ship is failing tests, and the officer in charge lays it off on poorly trained crew? Thats not how its supposed to work. |
| Posted by: Injun Bucket8891 2016-12-03 09:18 |
| #2 We had a shipyard here in the state that refused to bid on any further Navy contracts. The last contract they had with the Navy involved changes in specifications when bout 75 to 80% complete. Complete redesigns of systems after they were installed. If grew to be more headache than it was worth. I suspect this is also part of the problem with the F-35 along with the "trying to be all things". The will still bid on contracts for the Coasties and the Army (the Corps of Engineers has a pretty substantial amount of small craft) but the Navy can look elsewhere as I understand it. I wonder who many officers from Commander to Flag grade see procurement as a bridge to a secure retirement. We don't have a Navy to provide commands or ticket punches for ring knockers from Canoe U*. We have a Navy to serve the national interests of the United States of America *The same goes for the rest of the services. Nor are they there to provide careers for PAOs, "diversity experts" or any of a number of career paths. The Departments of the Navy; Army and Air Force may need some of these things to function in todays society but their core function is to protect and serve the interests of the USA |
| Posted by: Cheaderhead 2016-12-03 09:10 |
| #1 What is it about the Navy? Is it Mabus? Obama? I have this eerie feeling that the Navy is so bollixed that like its littoral combat ship it barely functions. |
| Posted by: Heriberto Greper9897 2016-12-03 07:42 |