 |
| Marinette Marine - Freedom class LCS |
By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR.
WASHINGTON: Should the Navy buy the next generation of Littoral Combat Ships in bulk? A contentious hearing today before House Armed Services subcommittee on oversight largely framed the options as polar opposites. You can either sign a multi-ship deal to drive down the price, at the risk of getting “locked in” to buying a flawed design. (This is how LCS is currently bought). Or you buy ships one year at a time to preserve congressional freedom to change the program, at the price of paying more per ship. But the quiet voice of Capitol Hill’s leading naval expert, Ron O’Rourke, suggested the year-at-a-time approach could have costly unintended consequences.
In today’s hearing, no one disputed that the Navy’s contention that buying 12 upgraded LCS “frigates” in a single multi-year contract would save money — one estimate was roughly 5 percent — over negotiating with builders one ship at a time. But 12 ships at 5 percent off is still more expensive than buying zero ships.
A lot of LCS critics would rather rid themselves of the small, low-firepower, breakdown-prone vessels altogether. But cancellation is unlikely, because the Navy wants large numbers of the relatively affordable LCS to sweep mines, hunt subs, and patrol the seas, freeing up heavier destroyers for missile defense and other high-intensity missions. So the critics at least want to have the option every year to hold the threat of cancellation over the contractors’ heads to force better performance.
 |
| Austal - Independence class LCS |
“Maybe LCS should stand for ‘Leaking, Cracked Ship,'” snarked Rep. Jackie Speier both on her Twitter account — using the hashtag #PorkShip — and in person at the hearing. “I and my @HASCDemocrats colleagues want to know why Congress should waste $120 billion on the Edsel of the sea.”
Speier frequently turned her ire on the Navy’s chief shipbuilder, Deputy Assistant Secretary Sean Stackley. “Mr. Stackley, I am so disappointed in your testimony, I can’t begin to tell you,” was the first thing she said to him in the hearing, saying his statement that the contractors properly warrantied their work on LCS “was very deceptive.”
Later in the hearing, Speier accused Stackley of not just deception but disrespect for the law: “My understanding is that, Sec. Stackley, you’ve already put out an RFP that presupposes a block buy, even though you don’t have authorization yet from Congress.”
“What we have put out an RFP for is the 2017 ships (only), with an option for a block buy,” Stackley replied, his frustration clearly simmering throughout the hearing. “We will be coming back to the Congress with the 2018 budget for authorization for the block buy.” That gives enough time to do the design work for the frigate upgrade, he told a skeptical Speier.
Read the full story at Breaking Defense