Commercial shipbuilding best practices suggested to bolster US Navy vessel numbers
The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently testified that the US Navy has not increased the number of ships in its fleet over the past 20 years despite nearly doubling its shipbuilding budget.
The GAO said the navy's acquisition practices consistently result in growing costs and delivery delays. For example, the navy's frigate program began construction before completing ship design and expects the first ship to be delivered at least three years late.
The GAO emphasised that as adversary threats grow, the navy needs to take a new approach to increase its fleet size. To start, it could apply leading ship design practices used by commercial shipbuilders and address other recommendations made over the last decade.
What the GAO found
Although maritime threats have been growing, the navy has not increased its fleet size as planned over the past 20 years. Over this period, the GAO has found that the navy's shipbuilding acquisition practices consistently resulted in cost growth, delivery delays, and ships that do not perform as expected.
For example, the GAO identified schedule risks in 2024 for the Constellation-class frigate program. Counter to leading ship design practices, construction for the lead ship started before the ship design work was complete, and delivery is expected to be delayed by at least three years.
The navy's recent practices with the frigate program are similar to its prior performance with its littoral combat ship and Zumwalt-class destroyer programs. The GAO said both programs were hampered by weak business cases that over-promised the capability that the navy could deliver.
Together, these two ship classes consumed tens of billions of dollars more to acquire than initially budgeted and ultimately delivered far less capability and capacity to fleet users than the navy had promised.
The GAO said the navy cannot expect to look within its existing playbook to find answers. Current challenges can provide the navy leadership with the impetus to look for solutions outside of the existing defence acquisition paradigm.
Specifically, the navy can innovate by using effective, proven ship design practices and product development approaches that are rooted in the approaches of industry-leading companies worldwide.
While the navy strives to improve its shipbuilding performance, marginal changes within the existing acquisition structures are unlikely to provide the foundational shift needed to break the pervasive cycle of delivery delays and cost overruns. The GAO said leading practices will offer the navy a near-term path toward restoring credibility with the operational fleet, Congress, and the taxpayers.
The GAO believes that more importantly, over the long-term, these leading practices can help the navy redefine its shipbuilding acquisition process, achieve its goals related to the number of ships needed to compete against potential adversaries, and reinforce the superiority of the fleet.
Leading practices recommended by the GAO include: establishing business cases and requirements that support predictable design outcomes; use of iterative design to accelerate ship design maturity; use of efficient ship design collaboration and decision-making practices; and employment of robust in-house ship design capabilities and tools.
