by Jack Ray » Thu Jun 05, 2008 12:58 pm
"Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., said congressional auditors have identified $295 billion in cost overruns on 95 major acquisition programs now underway.
For that amount, he said, the nation could buy two additional aircraft carriers at $10 billion each, eight Virginia class attack submarines at $2.5 billion each, 1,000 fighter and transport aircraft and 10,000 mine-resistant armored vehicles for ground troops. And after those purchases, the $130 billion left would cover the entire cost of an elaborate "future combat system" sought by the Army, he said."
Warning: Delay On Ship Will Run Up Navy's Costs
Norfolk Virginian-Pilot
June 4, 2008
Pg. D1
Warning: Delay On Ship Will Run Up Navy's Costs
By Dale Eisman, The Virginian-Pilot
WASHINGTON -- Plans to slow development of a futuristic new destroyer sought by the Navy will end up increasing the cost of the ship, which already is almost three times as expensive as today's destroyers, the Pentagon's top weapons buyer warned Tuesday.
John Young, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, said a House-passed proposal to delay the planned third ship in the DDG-1000 series of destroyers would disrupt an extensive network of suppliers and subcontractors. That would mean higher prices once production resumes, he argued at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on cost overruns in major weapons programs.
The Navy has two DDG-1000s under contract, priced at more than $3 billion each, and hopes to purchase at least five more. The ships are to be outfitted with computer-controlled systems and designed to operate with crews less than half the size of the 330 needed for today's Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.
The House voted last month to delay the third ship in the series, shifting $2.5 billion to a variety of other ship programs and perhaps allowing the Navy to begin work on as many as 12 vessels in 2009, four more than the Bush administration requested.
None of the ships will be built in Hampton Roads, but Northrop Grumman, which builds submarines and aircraft carriers in Newport News, has a major stake in the destroyer program at its yard in Pascagoula, Miss..
Navy leaders argue that the DDG-1000s are a test bed for a variety of new technologies the service wants to install in another future ship, a missile-defense cruiser now designated only as CGX. U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., who has led efforts to slow the program, argues that the ships are relying on unproven technologies whose spiraling costs are soaking up money needed for other programs.
Young also told senators Tuesday that restarting production of the Burke class of destroyers to fill a gap caused by delays in the DDG-1000 would make the Burke ships more expensive. The last of the Burke ships, which are priced at about $1.2 billion, was authorized in 2005 and the production line has largely been shut down, Young said.
Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., said congressional auditors have identified $295 billion in cost overruns on 95 major acquisition programs now underway.
For that amount, he said, the nation could buy two additional aircraft carriers at $10 billion each, eight Virginia class attack submarines at $2.5 billion each, 1,000 fighter and transport aircraft and 10,000 mine-resistant armored vehicles for ground troops. And after those purchases, the $130 billion left would cover the entire cost of an elaborate "future combat system" sought by the Army, he said.
"We've got to implode something here," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. The Pentagon and its suppliers have constructed an acquisition process in which she said "the definition of success is get the money and keep getting the money," rather than a process that is focused on obtaining needed weapons as quickly as possible at the lowest cost possible.
[i]"Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., said congressional auditors have identified $295 billion in cost overruns on 95 major acquisition programs now underway.
For that amount, he said, the nation could buy two additional aircraft carriers at $10 billion each, eight Virginia class attack submarines at $2.5 billion each, 1,000 fighter and transport aircraft and 10,000 mine-resistant armored vehicles for ground troops. And after those purchases, the $130 billion left would cover the entire cost of an elaborate "future combat system" sought by the Army, he said."[/i]
[quote]
Warning: Delay On Ship Will Run Up Navy's Costs
Norfolk Virginian-Pilot
June 4, 2008
Pg. D1
Warning: Delay On Ship Will Run Up Navy's Costs
By Dale Eisman, The Virginian-Pilot
WASHINGTON -- Plans to slow development of a futuristic new destroyer sought by the Navy will end up increasing the cost of the ship, which already is almost three times as expensive as today's destroyers, the Pentagon's top weapons buyer warned Tuesday.
John Young, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, said a House-passed proposal to delay the planned third ship in the DDG-1000 series of destroyers would disrupt an extensive network of suppliers and subcontractors. That would mean higher prices once production resumes, he argued at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on cost overruns in major weapons programs.
The Navy has two DDG-1000s under contract, priced at more than $3 billion each, and hopes to purchase at least five more. The ships are to be outfitted with computer-controlled systems and designed to operate with crews less than half the size of the 330 needed for today's Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.
The House voted last month to delay the third ship in the series, shifting $2.5 billion to a variety of other ship programs and perhaps allowing the Navy to begin work on as many as 12 vessels in 2009, four more than the Bush administration requested.
None of the ships will be built in Hampton Roads, but Northrop Grumman, which builds submarines and aircraft carriers in Newport News, has a major stake in the destroyer program at its yard in Pascagoula, Miss..
Navy leaders argue that the DDG-1000s are a test bed for a variety of new technologies the service wants to install in another future ship, a missile-defense cruiser now designated only as CGX. U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., who has led efforts to slow the program, argues that the ships are relying on unproven technologies whose spiraling costs are soaking up money needed for other programs.
Young also told senators Tuesday that restarting production of the Burke class of destroyers to fill a gap caused by delays in the DDG-1000 would make the Burke ships more expensive. The last of the Burke ships, which are priced at about $1.2 billion, was authorized in 2005 and the production line has largely been shut down, Young said.
Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., said congressional auditors have identified $295 billion in cost overruns on 95 major acquisition programs now underway.
For that amount, he said, the nation could buy two additional aircraft carriers at $10 billion each, eight Virginia class attack submarines at $2.5 billion each, 1,000 fighter and transport aircraft and 10,000 mine-resistant armored vehicles for ground troops. And after those purchases, the $130 billion left would cover the entire cost of an elaborate "future combat system" sought by the Army, he said.
"We've got to implode something here," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. The Pentagon and its suppliers have constructed an acquisition process in which she said "the definition of success is get the money and keep getting the money," rather than a process that is focused on obtaining needed weapons as quickly as possible at the lowest cost possible.
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