« Reply #1 on: December 18, 2024, 11:42:11 pm »
This comment after the article nails the problem:
The primary issue here seems to be that the Navy is not competent to accurately estimate the cost of its ships and is not even competent to recognize that they cant. Why is that? Many years ago the Bureau of Ships, later the Naval Ship Systems Command and still later the Naval Sea Systems Command (bureaucracies are very good at changing their name) had a full suite of in-house engineering talent in all matters regarding Navy ships and could accurately estimate costs. Having done away with most of the engineering talent during recent years and turning NAVSEA into little more than program administrators, there is little if any engineering staff left, other than nuclear power. Without competent engineers who can ask and answer questions regarding all aspects of these complex machines, of course the Navy can't estimate costs accurately. The solution? Re-establish a full suite in house engineering capabilities within the Navy.
In 2003, I interviewed an old school Navy weapons engineering manager who warned of this very thing...that the service was going to render itself impotent and incompetent by shutting down all its labs and relying on contractors to do all the RDT&E work (like the USAF at the time), just to save a few short-term bucks. Man, if he wasn't right! Everyone of his dire predictions have come to pass!
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