The long, expensive saga of the littoral combat ship is reaching another critical moment, and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is recommending the Navy stop buying the ship.
The central problem with the littoral acquisition is that the Navy reversed standard procedure of “fly before you buy” and instead took a “buy before you fly” approach, Michele Mackin, director of acquisition and sourcing management at GAO said in testimony before the House Committee on Armed Services Thursday.
Clearly, “this approach has fallen short,” Mackin said. The littoral combat ship project “has taken longer, cost more, and delivered less capability than expected.”
The hearing examined the $29 billion ship construction project, which saw the price per ship jump from $220 million at the beginning of project to $478 million this year, according to the GAO. (RELATED: Pentagon Needs More Money To Use Weapons Already Paid For, Asks For $6 Billion)
Twenty-six ships have been delivered to the Navy or have been ordered from either Lockheed or Austal, the two manufacturers. The Navy plans to order 12 heavier “frigates” in the next few years, if Congress approves the funding.
Next year, Congress could stop the proposed purchase of 14 more littoral combat ships, but otherwise “opportunities for Congress to affect the way forward for this program are becoming limited,” Mackin said.
Even though the watchdog has repeatedly called for adjustment to save the project from exorbitant costs, “the Navy has continued to request funding to buy more ships and mission packages and Congress has appropriated funds,” Mackin said.
The littoral ship has been plagued by technical problems since the first vessels entered the Navy in 2008. The Navy issued several corrective action requests in 2015 to Lockheed Martin, one of the manufacturers of the ship, to correct what the Defense Contract Management Agency called “systemic quality deficiencies.” (RELATED: Watch The Navy Try To Blow Up Its Own Ship [VIDEO])
Under the next session of Congress, lawmakers will have to decide whether to continue buying ships for the program, or look for other options.
President-elect Donald Trump has promised to increase the size of the Navy by 78 ships to reach his goal: a 350-ship Navy fleet with 13 carriers. Trump condemned a supposed $4 billion replacement of Air Force One Tuesday for being too expensive, which may suggest that he’ll take an active roll in trying to control costs of new technology. (RELATED: Defense Industry, Analysts Expect Major Spending Increase Under Trump)
The ships were supposed to have three kinds of warfare capabilities by 2011, namely mine countermeasures, surface warfare, and antisubmarine warfare capabilities. As of 2016, the ships are only capable of surface warfare, and the GAO notes that it only achieved that capability when the requirements were reduced.
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