some less than cheery news from the Ford class
Price tag for Navy's new aircraft carrier on the rise, GAO says
The next-generation aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford, under design at shipbuilder Northrop Grumman Newport News, faces "substantial risk" of cost overruns that could complicate the Navy's plan to increase its fleet, a federal report scheduled for release Monday says.
The Government Accountability Office, a watchdog for Congress, said that this "likely" cost growth "may force the Navy to sacrifice" other vessels in its 30-year plan to grow the fleet to 313 ships from the current 279, according to Bloomberg News. The business news service first reported the GAO's findings and quoted from the 41-page report.
The GAO said that delays in testing new key technologies - including a dual-band radar and systems for launching and landing fighter jets - could lengthen the carrier's construction time and drive up costs, Bloomberg reported.
Those conclusions echo testimony the GAO gave in late July during a congressional panel's hearing on the Navy's shipbuilding program.
A spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., the member of the House Armed Services Committee who requested the report, confirmed the GAO's findings.
The report "indicates it's highly unlikely" that the Ford, the first of a new class of nuclear-powered carriers, will meet the Navy's budget or construction schedule, said Lisa Wright, Bartlett's press secretary.
In a statement Friday, Bartlett said the GAO revealed that "the development of three critical technologies has been delayed to such an extent" that the Ford "must experience 100 percent success" during construction to meet the Navy's current $10.5 billion procurement budget.
The Navy has struggled to contain shipbuilding costs, and first-of-class ships in four of the service's current programs have experienced cost creep, including the littoral combat ship, the LPD-17 amphibious warship, the DDG 1000 destroyer and the Virginia-class attack submarine. Northrop Grumman Newport News shares construction of those subs with General Dynamics' Electric Boat.
The price tag of the George H.W. Bush - the 10th and last of the Nimitz-class aircraft carriers - has grown by $847 million, or 17 percent, over its initial budget. It is now under construction at the Newport News shipyard and scheduled for delivery next year.
At the July hearing, the Congressional Budget Office said the Ford carrier, known as CVN-78, could cost at least $1 billion more than the Navy has budgeted.
"In this budget environment, that's going to be a difficult sell," Bartlett said Friday.
He raised the possibility of revisiting the idea of building a larger number of smaller carriers, which "might provide more value" to the Navy than a few "super carriers."
The Navy said Friday that it would not comment on the GAO's report until it is officially released. However, Capt. Michael Schwartz, program manager of the Ford carrier program, said the service believes its can acquire the Ford under its current budget.
"The risks in the program relating to development of new technologies are clearly defined and being managed," Schwartz said in a statement. The purchase of materials and the design and advance construction work at the Newport News shipyard "are meeting expectations for cost performance," he said.
While the new technologies going on the Ford have posed "challenges," shipyard spokeswoman Jennifer Dellapenta said in a statement that "we are confident that in the end, we will be successful in incorporating them on CVN-78."
With the Ford's computer-assisted design now about 74 percent complete, the Navy expects to award a contract to begin full-scale construction in spring 2008. Completion is scheduled for 2015.
The Ford is the first of three new carriers in a $35 billion program to replace the carrier Enterprise, the Navy's first nuclear-powered carrier, and the Nimitz-class fleet. The new Ford class is designed with a host of high-tech improvements, including an ability to launch more aircraft combat sorties and to operate with several hundred fewer crew members.
Two of the improvements that have faced delays cited by the GAO are an electromagnetic aircraft launch system, which replaces steam-driven catapults, and a new aircraft arresting system. They are being built by San Diego-based General Atomics. Raytheon Co. is making the new dual-band radar that also has faced delays.
Bloomberg News reported that officials with those two companies expressed confidence that technical flaws and delays outlined by the GAO are being solved and won't affect the Ford's delivery schedule.
..That's just part of the game...
