Roughead stresses affordability, creativity ( for very expensive Naval ships)

[unhappycamper]

Roughead stresses affordability, creativity
Lance M. Bacon - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Jun 23, 2010 17:25:42 EDT

The Navy’s top officer on Tuesday continued the call for fiscal restraint, emphasizing that the Navy “cannot afford a tailor-made solution to every need that we have.”

“We must find ways to improve the affordability of the forces we are developing,” Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead said. “We must exploit open architecture efficiencies, identify common components where possible, and even investigate common hull forms and common air frames as we field the types of systems that we need for the future.”

The comments were given during Roughead’s remarks at MAST Americas 2010, the first U.S.-based Maritime Systems and Technologies conference. The conference is designed to bring together influential government, academic, and industry participants to tackle a broad spectrum of maritime challenges and issues.

Defense analysis has shown that the military’s budget must remain 3 percent above inflation each year to sustain current levels. However, that budget will be cut to 1.8 percent above inflation in fiscal 2012, and 1 percent in subsequent years. As such, the services are left to cut tens of billions annually to make up the difference.

Roughead told hundreds of industry leaders and innovators in attendance that he is “very aware, I can assure you, of the pressured fiscal environment.” He said it is time for provocative questions, creative thinking and new processes, “but most importantly it is time to act.”



unhappycamper comment: Why are you spending somewhere between $12.5 to $40 billion dollars on a new aircraft carrier? Nimitz class carriers cost us $4.5 billion dollars prior to the USS G.H.W. Bush. The cost for the ghwb was $6.8 billion dollars (the extra $2.3 billion was for overtime so poppy could christen it).

You blew $10+ billion dollars on two Zumwalt class destroyers that are nothing more than expensive target barges now that the NLOS-NS missile system was canceled.

You blew $1.2+ billion dollars on two LCS ships. The original estimated cost of these things was supposed to be $200 million dollars each. So what did you do? Start building another one.

Sailors across the fleet have to buy their own tools to keep your ships going. This outsourcing crap needs to stop sometime.

Do not expect an annual one trillion dollar military budget forever; the natives at home are getting restive due to unemployment, foreclosures, no jobs, teacher layoffs, policemen layoffs, and firefighter layoffs. Many cities and towns across the country have cut back on their social programs as the military budget sucks over 50% of discretionary spending.

The middle class is drying up and rich folks don't pay their fair share of the burden. Before long no one will be left to pay the bills.

[zipplewrath]

1. Big changes are coming

And the navy will be the last to get the memo.

They don't work and share well with others. For all of the "joint" efforts in the military, the Navy is always the one that never ultimately plays along. MacNamara started trying in the early '60s and I can't think of a major common system in use in the navy and any other service. Heck, they had to develop their own cruise missiles for goodness sakes.

It's gonna shake the Navy to the core when someone tells them they have to use cruise ship hulls for noncombat vessels.