Posted on: Monday, September 6, 2004

Report warns of ship delay

Bloomberg News Service

Northrop Grumman Corp. and Raytheon Co.'s new U.S. Navy destroyer faces "significant risk" of cost and schedule delays because of difficulties in developing new technologies, the Government Accountability Office said.

Among 10 primary technologies on the DD(X) destroyer that might not be fully demonstrated on time are its specialized target-search radar and a system that integrates electrical power generation, propulsion, distribution and management, the congressional audit agency said in a report released Friday. The first vessel is scheduled to be launched in 2010.

"The short amount of time" between when the Navy authorizes ship construction next year and ship launch, "together with the fact that virtually every major subsystem depends on a new technology or novel use of existing technologies, frame a challenge that involves significant risk," the GAO said.

The report was prepared for Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee's panel that authorizes spending on naval programs.

The program, in spite of the GAO's concerns, "is on track to support demonstration of certain fundamental capabilities" prior to award of the first construction contract, the Pentagon's director of Defense Systems, Glenn LaMartin, said in a written response included in the report. In the meantime, the technologies can be refined prior to installation, he said.

While Pentagon acquisition policy allows for the maturation of technologies up until they are scheduled for installation on vessels or aircraft, "It does not necessarily follow that this is a best practice," the GAO report said.

The Navy through Dec. 30 had spent $2.4 billion of a planned $10 billion phase for initial DD(X) development. It has not disclosed how many ships will be built.