Bill would scrap DDG 1000, add amphib

Bill would scrap DDG 1000, add amphib
By Philip Ewing - Staff writer
Posted : Friday May 9, 2008 9:59:42 EDT

One of the Navy’s top Capitol Hill critics was as good as his word Thursday and formally recommended that Congress make several changes to the Navy’s near- and long-term shipbuilding plans.

Rep. Gene Taylor, a Mississippi Democrat and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee’s seapower subcommittee, passed up to the full committee a bill that would delete a third DDG 1000-class destroyer, for the time being, to pay for another San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock and two T-AKE-class cargo ships.

In one of his harshest indictments yet, Taylor blasted the DDG-1000 as incompletely designed, too expensive and unnecessary, given the success of the Navy’s long-running Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. The unfinished design and unproven systems on the ships would lead to inevitable cost overruns, he said, which would “cripple the Navy’s shipbuilding account and drastically impact fleet size and capability.”

Moreover, he said the Navy was not being an honest partner with Congress in discussions about how to reach a fleet of 313 ships over the next 30 years. Taylor had already called the Navy’s shipbuilding plan “pure fantasy” in an earlier hearing, and on May 8 he said the Navy was not forthrightly budgeting the money it would need for the fleet it wants.

“The solution offered every year is that the solution will be delayed to future years,” Taylor said. “I do not believe the plan to achieve a 313-ship fleet is achievable in its current form. I am convinced that the only path to a 313-ship fleet is to build ships of a proven design and build them in sufficient numbers to realize shipyard efficiency.”


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/05/navy_shipbuilding_050808w/



uhc comment: At $3,300,000,000 to $5,000,000,000 a pop, the DDG 1000 is a tad expensive --> http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=259&topic_id=11549

The Navy and the DoD as a whole is just moving money from one pot to another trying to give the appearance to the public they are working on the problem.

The Navy has stated its objective of 313 ships, but the money called for in future budgets can not get there. So the Navy just moves money from one ship program to another claiming they are building lots of ships. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out the Navy can not buy two when they only have money for one.

Adding insult to injury, Lockheed and GD are holding the Navy over a barrel with the LCS. They are refusing to even bid the contract to build vessels at the offered price.

With the average age of an Air Force fighter surpassing 25 years, the Air Force needs a whole new fleet of aircraft. With the Army wearing out every piece of combat equipment it has in Iraq, they want a whole new wardrobe. All of this is expensive, and I have my doubts that the United States can maintain its current budget levels much less increase them.

It is too early in the morning to get on a rant like this. Thank you unhappycamper, I will be in a bad mood all day.