British expenditure on the Royal Navy between 1900 and 1905.[1]
1900-01 £32,131,062 7s 3d
1901-02 £33,726,491 10s 11d
1902-03 £34,201,994 4s 8d
1903-04 £39,221,000
1904-05 £42,001,400
This represents a remarkable 31 percent (£9,870,338) increase in the naval budget over the five year period.
[1] HC Deb 29 February 1904 vol 130 c124.
DoD awards $7.9 million cost reduction contract. Just one of those things that make no sense when you first read it, but hopefully makes sense after the contract has run its course successfully.
McKinsey & Company Inc., Washington, D.C., is being awarded a $7,963,647 firm-fixed-price contract (HQ0034-14-F-0004) to provide support to the F-35 operating and support cost reduction effort and the Collaborative Work Center. Work will be performed in Arlington, Va., and Washington, D.C., with an estimated completion date of Oct. 27, 2015. This contract was a sole-source acquisition. Washington Headquarters Services, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.
In light of the Zumwalt fiasco…
Somewhat embarrassing for the US Navy. Perhaps they should rename it the USS Budget, or the USS Snafu, or even the USS Tea Party.
Navy Cancels, Postpones Zumwalt Christening
Story Number: NNS131011-08Release Date: 10/11/2013 10:23:00 AM
From Defense Media Activity-NavyWASHINGTON (NNS) — The Navy announced today that the christening of the future USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) originally scheduled for Oct. 19 has been cancelled and postponed until a future date.
“It is incredibly unfortunate that we are being forced to cancel the christening ceremony for this great warship,” said Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, “but the ongoing government shutdown prevents us from being able to honor Admiral Zumwalt’s memory with a ceremony befitting his and his family’s legacy of service to our Nation and our Navy.”
The future USS Zumwalt is a first of class ship for the Navy’s next generation destroyer. Zumwalt class ships are tailored for sustained operations in the littorals and land attack, and will provide independent forward presence and deterrence, support special operations forces, and operate as an integral part of joint and combined expeditionary forces.
The Zumwalt honors Navy Adm. Elmo R. “Bud” Zumwalt Jr., who became the 19th Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) in 1970, and passed away in Durham, N.C., Jan. 2, 2000.
The Navy is in coordination with the Zumwalt family and General Dynamics – Bath Iron Works to reschedule the christening ceremony.
131001-N-SU274-027 CHARLESTOWN, Mass. (Oct. 1, 2013) A closed notice posted at the front gate of USS Constitution in Charlestown Navy Yard. Constitution and the yard are closed to the public as a result of the government shutdown that took effect Oct. 1. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Peter D. Melkus/Released)
Oh, no, my friends. The F-35 isn’t merely a gilt-edged albatross. It’s a gilt-edged albatross with whipped cream and a cherry on top.
Pentagon Report: F-35 Program Struggles With Quality Management
Two F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing aircraft ferry from Lockheed Martin’s production facility in Fort Worth, Texas, to Marine Corps Air Station Yuma in May. (Lockheed Martin)
While there have been improvements, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program continues to struggle with quality management issues, according to a new report from the Pentagon’s Inspector General.
The watchdog found 363 issues, 147 of which it identified as “major.” The report defined major issues as “a nonfulfillment of a requirement that is likely to result in the failure of the quality management system or reduce its ability to ensure controlled processes or compliant products/services.”
Challenges identified in the report include the need for improved training, the need to improve criteria for acceptance of a plane, and unnecessary over-mixing of sealant used on the wings.
“Although it would be unrealistic to expect first production to be issue free, our contractor assessments indicate that greater emphasis on quality assurance, requirement flow down, and process discipline is necessary, if the Government is to attain lower program costs,” the IG wrote.
Inspectors found small improvements in the number of “quality action requests” needed for each lot of planes, with 972 requests per fighter in LRIP-1, 987 in LRIP-2, 926 in LRIP -3, and 859 in LRIP-4.
Similarly, there was a small change in the average rework, repair and scrap rates per aircraft, improving from 13.82 percent in FY 2012 down to 13.11 percent in FY 2013. The IG report describes these improvements as “only a moderate change.”
“F-35 Program quality metric data show improvement in scrap, rework, and repair rates and in software and hardware quality action requests per aircraft,” wrote the IG’s office. “However, the Government incurred and will continue to incur a significant cost for these issues, either through the previous cost-plus incentive/award/fixed-fee contracts or via quality incentives on future fixed-price incentive-fee contracts.”
The report was conducted between February 2012 and July 2013, a time period that saw dramatic changes to the F-35 program, including turnover at the top of both the Joint Program Office (JPO) and Lockheed Martin’s JSF team. Because of that time frame, the report is focused primarily on the first four low-rate initial production (LRIP) lots.
Lockheed and the JPO reached an agreement on LRIP-5 late last year, and announced Friday the details on lots six and seven, which top program officials have marked as a major milestone due to cost reductions.
The IG’s report focused on work done by Lockheed, in the role of prime contractor, but also inspected work done by five key suppliers: Northrop Grumman, the center fuselage integrator; BAE, the aft fuselage integrator; L-3 Display Systems, who handles the cockpit display; Honeywell Aerospace, managing the on-board oxygen generation system, and United Technologies work with the landing gear system.
Engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney was not included in the report.
In an emailed statement, F-35 JPO spokesman Joe DellaVedova called the report “thorough, professional, well-documented and useful to the F-35 Enterprise.” But the statement also noted that much of what was in the report has been previously documented and is being addressed.
“A majority of the findings are consistent with weaknesses previously identified by the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) and the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO), and do not present new or critical issues that affect the health of the program,” DellaVedova’s statement read. “The assessment contains 363 findings, from which, 343 corrective action recommendations (CARs) were generated. As of September 30, 2013, 269 of the 343 CARs have been resolved (78%), with the remaining 74 still in work with Corrective Action Plans (CAPs) in development, or approved by not fully-implemented.”
“This 2012 DoD IG report is based on data that’s more than 16 months old and majority of the Corrective Action Requests (CARs) identified have been closed,” a corporate response from Lockheed Martin read, while noting that all open CARs are scheduled to be closed “by April 2014.”
“When discoveries occur, we take decisive and thorough action to correct the situation, continued the statement. “Our commitment is to deliver the F-35’s world class 5th Generation fighter capabilities to the warfighter on time and within budget.”
Considered “not survivable” in combat, over budget, of limited operational value… and now cut short.
Sources: Pentagon Backs Cutting LCS to 24 ships
Sources say officials in the Office of the Secretary of Defense want to cut the total LCS buy from 52 to 24. Here, the first-in-class LCSs Freedom, left, and Independence maneuver off San Diego in May 2012. (Lt. Jan Shultis / Navy)
WASHINGTON — The office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) reportedly supports the idea of limiting total purchases of littoral combat ships to only 24, far short of the US Navy’s goal of 52 ships, sources have told Defense News.
Stopping at 24 ships would end LCS procurement with the fiscal 2015 budget.
The Navy, according to sources, is countering with proposals for higher numbers, but strongly advocates going no lower than 32 ships — a number that would continue production another one or two years.
The positions are part of ongoing deliberations to formulate the fiscal 2015 defense budget, due to be submitted to Congress in February. The annual budget process has been heavily disrupted due to sequester cuts, and the White House’s insistence on producing two versions of the budget — a non-sequestration version, called the program objective memorandum (POM) — and an alternative POM (ALT POM), incorporating the mandated cuts and hence, far more severe reductions in purchases and programs.
Pentagon budget officials have focused primarily on the ALT POM, and in late August began switching to the POM. The OSD proposal to limit LCS to 24 ships is understood to be part of the ALT POM discussions.
Asked for comment, both OSD and Navy officials emphasized that no final decisions have been made.
“Until the FY15 President’s Budget request is submitted to the Congress in February 2014, and becomes part of the public record, all decisions are pre-decisional and it is inappropriate to discuss specific details,” said Lt. Caroline Hutcheson, a Navy spokeswoman at the Pentagon.
“We continue to evaluate the future demand for forces and will maintain a balance between force structure requirements while managing fiscal and operational risk,” she added. “We remain committed to a 52-ship LCS program —this number accurately and appropriately captures the requirement for capacity and capabilities.”
One defense official noted a mandated $52 billion cut is coming at the end of fiscal 2013, Sept. 30.
“You can’t cut force structure that quickly,” Maureen Schumann, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said Aug. 28. “We’ve already cut the readiness accounts to a bare minimum. So the investment accounts will take an inordinate part of those cuts for 2014 on.”
In addition to supporting a reduction to 24 ships, OSD also reportedly is insisting the Navy place a top priority on fielding the mine countermeasures (MCM) module, one of three major mission packages under development for the LCS.
The Navy already has prioritized the MCM module in order to fulfill its most pressing operational need for the ships — three developmental packages have been delivered — but the effort has seen significant issues that have pushed back its operational readiness.
Sean Stackley, the Navy’s top acquisition official, noted during a July 25 appearance before Congress that, “sequestration, combined with recent congressional marks and rescissions, will impact the operational test schedule for the mine countermeasures mission package.”
Stackley did not say during that hearing what the revised initial operational capability (IOC) date was for the MCM module, but he noted the surface warfare and anti-submarine warfare packages are scheduled to reach IOC in 2014 and 2016, respectively.
What 24 Means
While LCS has been controversial since its inception more than a decade ago, the Navy’s top leadership has never wavered in its support of the full program. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations, have remained adamant in their support, testifying before Congress in defense of the program and proclaiming it in multiple public addresses.
Vice Adm. Tom Copeman, commander of the Navy’s surface forces, noted in an internal memo produced in November that with 24 ships — half devoted to mine warfare — the Navy will have exceeded the current minesweeping capacity of its ships and aircraft. While the modules are required to be interchangeable between the two LCS variants, only the Independence-class ships have been used in developmental MCM testing.
Four littoral combat ships have been delivered, while construction contracts or contract options have been awarded for 20 more. The numbers are evenly divided between the Freedom class, built by Lockheed Martin at Fincantieri Marinette Marine in Marinette, Wis., and the Independence class, built by Austal USA in Mobile, Ala. Construction contracts have been awarded for LCS hulls five through 16; four more are in the 2014 budget, while hulls 21 through 24 are planned to be funded and awarded in 2015.
The Navy’s program of record shows two ships scheduled for 2016, and two more in 2017. A minimum of 32 ships would extend production another one or two years — enough, perhaps, for the sequestration restrictions to be relaxed or eliminated.
Meanwhile, Pentagon budget deliberations continue on a wide scale. But time is growing short. Under OSD deadlines, budget proposals are to be presented to the deputy’s Management Action Group in late September, followed by briefings to Frank Kendall, the Defense Department’s top acquisition official, in late September or early October. A full budget brief to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel isn’t expected until November.
http://www.defensenews.com/article/20130902/DEFREG02/309020018
The USS Miami will be scrapped, not repaired.
Navy drops plans to repair submarine Miami
Smoke rises from a dry dock as fire crews respond Wednesday, May 23, 2012 to a fire on the nuclear submarine Miami, SSN 755, at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on an island in Kittery, Maine. Seven people were injured, including a firefighter. (AP Photo | The Herald, Ionna Raptis)
PORTLAND, Maine
The Navy has decided to scrap the Miami instead of repairing the nuclear-powered submarine because of budget cuts and growing costs of repairing damage from a fire set by a shipyard worker while the vessel was in dry dock at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine, officials said Tuesday.
Rear Adm. Rick Breckenridge, director of undersea warfare, said repairing the Groton, Conn.-based sub would have meant canceling work on dozens of other ships because of new budget restraints.
He said that would’ve hurt the Navy’s overall readiness.
“The Navy and the nation simply cannot afford to weaken other fleet readiness in the way that would be required to afford repairs to Miami,” Breckenridge said in a statement.
Inspections revealed that a significant number of components in the torpedo room and auxiliary machinery room would require replacement, further driving up the repair costs for the Miami. The Navy originally said it planned to repair the submarine, but the discovery of additional damage raised the cost, originally estimated to be about $450 million.
A shipyard worker, Casey James Fury of Portsmouth, N.H., was sentenced to 17 years in prison after admitting he set fire to the Miami, which was undergoing a 20-month overhaul at the Kittery shipyard.
It took 12 hours and the efforts of more than 100 firefighters to save the Los Angeles-class attack submarine. Seven people were hurt.
The fire, set on May 23, 2012, damaged forward compartments including living quarters, a command and control center and the torpedo room. Weapons had been removed for the repair, and the fire never reached the rear of the submarine, where the nuclear propulsion components are located.
U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King of Maine and Jeanne Shaheen and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire issued a statement blaming the decision to scrap the submarine on the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration.
“We are disappointed by the Navy’s decision to discontinue repairs to the USS Miami. Inactivating the Miami will mean a loss to our nuclear submarine fleet — yet another unfortunate consequence of the across-the-board cuts known as sequestration. We will continue to work together to find a responsible budget solution that replaces sequestration,” they said.
The Navy announced last summer that it intended to repair the Miami with a goal of returning it to service in 2015. The Navy said it would be cost-effective because the 22-year-old submarine could serve another 10 years.
The decision to deactivate the Miami was a difficult one, “taken after hard analysis and not made lightly,” Breckenridge said in his statement. “But in exchange for avoiding the cost of repairs, we will open up funds to support other vital maintenance efforts, improving the wholeness and readiness of the fleet.”
The repairs have potential implications for both Portsmouth Naval Shipyard workers and workers from Electric Boat in Groton, who expected to play a major role in the repair effort.
http://hamptonroads.com/2013/08/navy-drops-plans-repair-submarine-miami
Naval Matters 