Navy Taking Hard Look at Sustainment Costs, As New Projection Doubles Expected Long-Term Bill
By: Megan Eckstein
January 28, 2021 12:48 PM
Hull Technician 2nd Class Ronald Bell, from Bronx, N.Y., left, and Hull Technician 3rd Class Shaughnessy O’Day, from Columbus, Ind., weld a light fixture aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen (DDG-82) during a sustainment exercise in 2019. US Navy Photo
The Navy has long struggled to understand its sustainment costs and how they affect budget plans in the near- and long-term, but an intensive effort is underway to get a better grasp on where those costs are in the budget, who is responsible for paying them and how they affect future plans to grow the fleet.
The service created a Sustainment Program Baseline effort that’s in the early stages of trying to identify all the spending that goes into sustaining the ships, submarines, aircraft and other systems the Navy operates, Vice Adm. Michael Moran, the principal military deputy for the assistant secretary of the navy research, development and acquisition, said Wednesday. Without understanding what funding is required, the Navy can’t take steps to find savings or to ensure the most-needed readiness drivers are prioritized in future budgets, he said.
https://news.usni.org/2021/01/28/navy-taking-hard-look-at-sustainment-costs-as-new-projection-doubles-expected-long-term-bill
