McCain: LCS shows spending out of control

[unhappycamper]

LCS program subject in debate
Candidate says cost-plus contracts must go


McCain: LCS shows spending out of control
By Philip Ewing - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Sep 29, 2008 16:13:23 EDT

The Littoral Combat Ship program got some high-profile attention in the presidential campaign on Friday, but probably not the kind the Navy wants. GOP presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain cited it as an example of government waste.

“I think that we have to return — particularly in defense spending, which is the largest part of our appropriations — we have to do away with cost-plus contracts. We now have defense systems that the costs are completely out of control,” McCain said during his debate with the Democratic nominee, Sen. Barack Obama. “We tried to build a little ship called the littoral combat ship that was supposed to cost $140 million, ended up costing $400 million, and we still haven’t done it.”

In reality, cost for each ship began around $220 million, and experts estimate that figure to balloon to as much as $700 million. The first ship, Freedom, was delivered to the Navy on Sept. 18, and the second ship, Independence, is slated for delivery some time next year.

McCain’s solution to problems such as LCS is to require the government to issue only “fixed-cost” contracts, which, in his view, would keep projects such as LCS from running over-budget. It’s not clear, however, whether McCain’s proposal would have kept down costs for the two ships, which were being built before their designs were complete and for which there’s already a congressionally imposed cost cap on future ships.

Last year, Navy Secretary Donald Winter canceled construction of the third and fourth ships due to delays and cost overruns.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/09/navy_mccain_lcs_092908w/%2e



uhc comment: This is the first time I can recall agreeing with McLame. Did you know he was a POW?

[snot]

1. like he's going to get control of anything.

he wouldn't be the Repub candidate if he weren't under his masters' control.