Pentagon Struggles To Save New Programs: Kendall

[unhappycamper]

http://breakingdefense.com/2014/09/pentagon-struggles-to-save-new-programs-kendall/



Pentagon Struggles To Save New Programs: Kendall
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. on September 03, 2014 at 12:06 PM

~SNIP~



Kendall’s Top Three Concerns

As an engineer himself, Kendall is especially worried about the health of the design teams that would turn cool new technology into workable new weapons. “A lot of engineers have lost their jobs,” he said. He’s particularly concerned about three areas:

Tanks and other ground combat vehicles, currently built at only two locations in the US: Lima, Ohio and York, Pennsylvania. The Army has already cancelled its program for a clean-sheet-of-paper Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV). Its largest remaining ground program, the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV), is just a modification of the current M2 Bradley. (Some GCV money did move to a “next-generation” vehicle project, Kendall noted). Likewise, the Marines cancelled the ambitious high-water-speed version of their Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV) in favor of buying slower, cheaper designs already on the world market.

“High-performance aircraft” came next on Kendall’s worry list this morning. (Yes, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is the Pentagon’s costliest program currently — in fact ever — but it’s long since moved out of the design stage into tweaking and production). The Under Secretary recently led an “air dominance initiative” to look into next-generation combat aircraft, and it’s “put some things on the table as recommendations” for the budget, he told reporters, though he wouldn’t specify what.

The Navy hasn’t done a new surface ship design for years, Kendall noted as his third concern. The most recent all-new designs were the two variants of the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), a controversial program for which the Pentagon is now considering alternatives. (That said, time and budgetary constraints may make an upgraded LCS the only workable choice). The Navy is working on a major upgrade of its workhorse DDG-51 Arleigh Burke destroyers, but the basic design still dates to the 1980s.


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Let me tell you a tale about the Littoral Combat Ship.

The LCS was originally defined in the Navy's Bluewater project and was supposed to have cost $200,000,000 delivered. LCS #1 came in around $650,000,000; LCS #2 came in over $700,000,000. Congress, in its infinite wisdom was appalled at the price and then promptly ordered another fifty of them.

[littlemissmartypants]

1. It's all about priorities. nt