The US Government Accountability Office published the report “Navy Shipbuilding: Past Performance Provides Valuable Lessons for Future Investments.” In the report it says that navy shipbuilding has been damaged the last decade by programs running over-budget and underperforming.
Between 2007 and 2018, the US Navy spent $24 billion more than the $182 billion that were planned to be allocated for shipbuilding, the report said. However, the US Navy’s shipbuilding has not kept up with the rate of decommissioning ships. The US Navy’s current 283-ship fleet is only two ships more than the 281-ships the US Navy had in 2006, and 50 ships away from the 330 ship fleet in 2007.
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However, according to the report the US Navy’s expected cost-savings are too optimistic, as they don’t match construction delays which cause costs to increase. The costs have also increase, because the US Navy is accepting ships deliveries with significant deficiencies. These ships need extensive work, and more money.
In addition, while cost-overruns are generally expected in building a first-in-class ship, the report notes that follow-on ships in several classes also cost more than it was expected.
In order to mitigate this problem, the report suggest that the US Navy should adopt a more disciplined approach to shipbuilding. Amongst the suggestions of the report, alignment of achievable capabilities with available funding and allowing new technologies to mature before using them into ship programs, are two essential points.
For more information, click the PDF herebelow
