Navy learns that faster isn’t better
The US Navy appears to have learned from its costly lessons after cramming too much new technology on to warships and speeding them into production, as it embarks on building new destroyers that are the backbone of the fleet.
Military officials say they are slowing down the design and purchase of the next-generation destroyers to ensure that new technologies like powerful lasers and hypersonic missiles are mature before pressing ahead with construction.
The navy had learned ‘‘sometimes the hard way, (that) when we move too fast, we make big mistakes’’, said Admiral Michael Gilday, chief of naval operations.
The navy wants to turn the page on recent shipbuilding blunders. Several newer combat ships designed for speed are being retired early after being beset by problems.
A US$13.3 billion (NZ$21.6b) aircraft carrier experienced added costs from new catapults that launch airplanes. Workers completed construction of a stealth destroyer before its advanced gun system was scrapped.
For new ships, the navy was reducing risk by conducting more land tests and borrowing the radar and targeting systems from the latest destroyers, said Lieutenant Commander Javan Rasnake, spokesman for the assistant secretary of the navy for research, development and acquisition. It was also working with shipbuilders and designers to refine the destroyers’ blueprint, cost estimates, and workforce and supply forecasts.
The navy still plans to field some new technologies on the destroyer. Last week, it awarded Lockheed Martin a US$1.2 billion (NZ$1.95b) contract for hypersonic missiles that travel at five times the speed of sound. Last year, it awarded the first design contract for the new ship outfitted with those missiles and lasers powerful enough to shoot down aircraft.
The navy is in the midst of juggling its priorities as it seeks not just a new destroyer but also a new class of attack submarine, and a replacement for the F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet.
The service was in a difficult spot because the Biden Administration was not interested in dramatically increasing the military budget, said Bryan Clark, a defence analyst at Washington, DC-based think tank the Hudson Institute.
Research and development alone would cost an extra US$10b to US$20b (NZ$16.2b to $32.4b) for the destroyer, submarine and jet, he said, representing a big chunk of the US$220b (NZ$357b) navy budget.
A series of speedy, coast-hugging warships embodied the shipbuilding mistakes that the navy is trying to avoid.
Critics said early versions of the craft, known as a littoral combat ship, were too lightly armoured to survive combat. One had propulsion problems. Some of the ships broke down and had to be towed. Plans for a submarine detection system were scrapped.
Combined, the costs of the first ships in that programme, the stealthy Zumwalt destroyer and Ford-class aircraft carrier, grew by US$6.8b (NZ$11b) in today’s dollars, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
‘‘They’ve digested that lesson,’’ Clark said. ‘‘Part of what you’re seeing is a recognition that the underlying technologies are not ready yet. They don’t want to drive the programme where the ship starts production before the technology is ready.’’
Gilday said the transition to the new destroyers was likely to start in the ‘‘2032 time frame’’.