The Navy’s new missile sub could cost ‘hundreds of millions’ extra: GAO
Report criticizes Electric Boat’s rosy assumptions, Navy’s spotty analysis.
Lauren C. Williams | September 30, 2024
Navy Industry Acquisition
The U.S. Navy’s next ballistic-missile submarine is already late and over budget—and the actual overrun might nearly quintuple the service's projections, a government watchdog agency says.
“Our independent analysis calculated likely cost overruns that are more than six times higher than Electric Boat’s estimates and almost five times more than the Navy’s. As a result, the government could be responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in additional construction costs for the lead submarine,” the Government Accountability Office wrote in a Sept. 30 report on the Columbia-class submarine program.
Why the disparity? GAO says the Navy and General Dynamics Electric Boat, the prime contractor on the Columbia class, still haven’t fixed the problems that drove the cost of the lead boat to an estimated $8.6 billion and put it 12 to 16 months behind schedule—even as they move into a complicated phase of construction that is likely to bring new challenges. Worse, neither the Navy nor Electric Boat fully understands why the problems happened in the first place, says the report, an unclassified version of a sensitive one produced in July.
The Navy says Electric Boat “needs to take swift and significant actions to address the causes of poor construction performance,” says GAO, adding bleakly, “However, the program has tried to mitigate some of these causes—such as late materials and detailed design products—for years.”
https://www.defenseone.com/defense-systems/2024/09/price-navys-new-missile-sub-might-skyrocket-gao-warns-scathing-report/399951/?oref=d1-category-lander-featured-river
