If the U.S. Navy receives a big boost in its shipbuilding budget, attack submarines, large surface combatants and amphibious assault ships will top its wish list, according to a key service official.
The “first priority” would be building more attack submarines to stem a “very serious shortfall” that the Navy expects to experience in the late 2020s, said Navy acquisition chief Sean Stackley, who testified Dec. 1 before the Senate Armed Services Committee. “That would be the first place that we go in terms of increasing our production rates.”
Photo: U.S. Navy
For large surface combatants, a category that includes cruisers and destroyers, the current construction rate is not high enough to replace aging ships. “If we stay at two per year, we’re going to start settling down to a 60 to 70 number of large surface combatant, which won’t meet our operational requirements,” Stackley told the committee.
The Navy also wants to increase the production rate for its “high-demand” amphibious assault ships. “Wherever we have operations going, amphibs find a way to support that operation,” Stackley said.
While the Navy fleet is already slated to grow from 272 ships today to 308 ships by fiscal year 2021, the Navy’s ongoing force structure assessment is expected conclude that an even larger increase is needed to meet projected threats. In addition, President-elect Donald Trump has called for expanding the fleet to 350 ships.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the committee chairman, said his panel would support a larger fleet but would demand that the Navy avoid the kind of cost growth that has plagued several shipbuilding programs, including the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). McCain noted that the cost of LCS has more than doubled to $478 million per ship, up from an initial estimate of $220 million.
LCS “is an unfortunate yet all too common example of defense acquisition gone awry,” McCain said. “Taxpayers have invested more than $12 billion to procure LCS seaframes and another $2 billion in [mine countermeasures, surface warfare and anti-submarine warfare] mission packages. Yet for all this investment, all three of these mission packages are years delayed with practically none of the systems having reached initial operational capability.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) cautioned that the Navy will struggle to expand its fleet if it does not properly manage its already heavy modernization plate.
“Between the Ford-class carrier, F-35 procurement, the LCS and an Ohio-class replacement ballistic missile submarine, the Navy simply must make the most effective and efficient use of every single dollar it receives if we’re to have any hope of rebuilding the fleet,” Cruz said.
Due to an already high price tag for the Ohio replacement, Stackley testified that he and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson “are on top of that program” to ensure costs do not grow. The Navy is also trying to “leverage existing designs” as much as possible when it buys new ships. Cost estimates, requirements and technical risk are receiving more scrutiny in acquisition programs.
“The experience with LCS – it broke the Navy,” Stackley said. “We’ve retooled the entire way that we do business when it comes to acquisition programs. I think that we are trying to pull best practices in.”