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The Navy's estimated cost to build three Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers rose $5.4 billion, or 15.5 percent, since September 2008, according to a new Defense Department report.Built at Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Newport News shipyard, the three carriers now will cost a combined $40.5 billion, up from $35.1 billion in 2008, the report said.
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Ironically though this cost increase is solely due to the shift in procurement schedules, very similar to the British "effort" to save money in the short term by pushing procurement further into the future (which also produced increased cost in the long-term).
ReplyDeleteI seem to remember, that you were among the people calling for reducing US CBGs...this move will produce exactly that result. Although probably not nearly as rapid as you would wish.
Actually, what would worry me much more in this report, were I American, is the ongoing EMALS-drama. Apparently the R&D team just thrashed the only prototype due to a simple wiring mistake caused by insufficient training. Together with the more fundamental engineering challenges and the repercussions, which would arise should EMALS fail, this would be the next drama of near-biblical proportions (the JSF already being the first one).
I'm not really interested in the cost increase. The text says that the individual ships will cost on average $ 13.5 bn - and it does so before all three are built. The costs will most likely still grow, and the program might end up at an average of about & 15-20 bn per ship.
ReplyDeleteAdd the costs of the necessary escorts (about $ 10 bn), aircraft(about $ 15 bn), refuel costs and operating costs. There's simply no way how the capability could justify the costs.
The opportunity costs of having about 6,500 working-age personnel in uniform instead of in the industry is also huge.
The acceptance of such prices is outright insane in my opinion.
yep, insane. Maybe we should be building more and trading to the Chinese to pay off some of our debt to them. At least ours works - sans EMALS.
ReplyDeleteI think the US could foot the bill for a complete replacement of the Nimitz class with the Ford class if only they reformed their tax system to be fair again. That would even leave money to invest into industrial development at home. Reminds me a bit of the saying: "nations don't die, they commit suicide."
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