Despite budget cuts, the Navy projects there will be a slight increase in workload at the nation’s shipyards over the next five years, according to a service official.
Wilmot Summerall, the executive director for combatants and program executive officer for ships, said there are about 40 ships currently under contract, and as long as cost requirements are met and more contracts are awarded, the shipbuilding industry should be able to sustain its workload.
“Assuming we can award those ships at our should cost, the projected workload in the next four or five years will actually be increasing slightly,” Summerall said at the Surface Navy Association symposium in Arlington, Va., last week.
The Navy has strived to stabilize budgets, optimize production schedules, reward cost discipline and align fees with risk, Summerall said. In return, the service expects industry to increase productivity and innovation, reduce costs and take more risk, he said.