By Emelie Rutherford
The top naval officer’s emphasis on fiscal discipline in his new guidance for the coming year is yet another indicator of the Pentagon’s increased awareness of the federal fiscal crisis, analysts said.
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead’s “CNO Guidance for 2010” calls for taking “bold steps” to make the service more efficient and effective.
“As I look to the future, I see continued disorder in the global security environment, a slow economic recovery, and increasing demand on our Navy,” Roughead writes in the 15- page document. “While we have made sound investments in recent budgets to close warfighting and readiness gaps and support our people, the cost to man, operate, and equip our force has never been greater and continues to rise. Our national security remains closely linked to our economy, and in the coming year, we will continue to take bold steps to improve the efficiency of our operations and the effectiveness of our warfighting capability and capacity.”
The Navy, he says, will eliminate poorly performing programs, and assess the return on investment with all of them.
“Building upon efforts started in previous budget cycles, we are identifying areas in which we can reduce costs, streamline operations, and cut programs that are underperforming or not delivering required capabilities,” he write.
He emphasizes wanting to reduce the so-called Total Ownership Cost (TOC) of programs. Such an examination of procurement, lifecycle, personnel, maintenance, and sustainment costs will be part of all requirements, procurement, and policy decisions, he writes.
“Our TOC reduction effort includes leveraging multi-year buys, engineering maintenance requirements, pursuing common designs and open architecture, and consolidating infrastructure to more efficiently and effectively run our Navy,” he says.
Roughead does not specify platforms he favors or disfavors in his guidance, but says the service will “emphasize the affordable production” of multi-mission ships and aircraft.
The Navy will pursue “affordable warfighting solutions that emphasize evolutionary vice revolutionary capabilities, common hulls and airframes, open architecture, modularity, lower energy footprint, and reduced manpower,” he says.
Citing the Navy’s goal of having at least 313 ships and eventually 320 vessels in 2024, Roughead writes: “Additional investment in force structure will depend upon our ability to reduce overhead and identify efficiencies within our operations and organizations.”
Analysts note that much of what Roughead is calling for is not new. For example, the CNO says the Navy “will question every requirement and only develop those capabilities we need, not just want.”
Ron O’Rourke, a senior Navy analyst at the Congressional Research Service, told Defense Daily, that the “idea of distinguishing requirements from ‘desirements,’ and of programming funding for the former but not necessarily for the latter, is not new, and the Navy would not claim that it’s new–the Navy has been talking about this for a few years now.”
Still, Roughead’s overriding concerns about belt-tightening are notable, said defense consultant Loren Thompson, chief operating officer at the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va.
“The CNO’s emphasis on fiscal discipline reflects growing Pentagon awareness of the government’s money problems,” Thompson told Defense Daily. He noted Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ direction for Pentagon officials to maintain defense spending while also identifying billions of dollars in savings over the coming four yerars.
“While that initiative is unlikely to survive long after the departure of Secretary Gates, it has nonetheless impressed upon military leaders the need to demonstrate restraint in their spending plans if they want to avoid arbitrary cuts from Congress and the White House,” Thompson said.
Roughead states five main priorities in the guidance document he released Monday: “continue to be the dominant, ready naval force across all maritime missions;” “build a Navy with appropriate force structure and strategic laydown;” “maintain decision superiority;” “align the requirements, resources and acquisition processes;” and “evolve and establish international relationships.”
A Naval Warfare Integration Group will help determine where limited resources should be directed to have the greatest impact, he says. Resources will be directed to “game- changing technologies and concepts, especially those at the left end of the effects chain and in information dominance.”
Roughead also calls for pursing “unmanned systems as an integrated part of our force,” ensuring that the move to drone systems genuinely reduces personnel requirements. And the Navy plans to develop a long-enduring and safe power source for unmanned underwater vehicles, he says.
The service also is “developing and refining operational concepts for key capabilities and domains” including the undersea environment, the littorals, and irregular challenges, he states.