The\u00a0US Navy\u00a0keeps falling short in shipbuilding, with costs too high and deliveries too slow, the service\u2019s acting acquisition chief said in written testimony submitted for a House hearing on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cDeliveries are approximately one to four years late and costs continue to rise faster than overall inflation,\u201d Brett Seidle said in the prepared remarks to the House Armed Services seapower panel. \u201cThese challenges are shared across the nuclear and conventional shipbuilding communities with both Navy and Industry sharing responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n
The comments underscored the challenges facing a new National Security Council maritime office that\u00a0President Donald Trump\u00a0has said he\u2019s creating to revitalize both military and commercial shipbuilding in the US.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe used to make so many ships. We don\u2019t make them any more very much, but we\u2019re going to make them very fast, very soon,\u201d Trump said in his address to Congress last week. \u201cIt will have a huge impact.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Seidle\u2019s statement to the lawmakers the\u00a0veteran Pentagon civilian official\u00a0said that \u201cUS shipbuilders continue to produce the highest-quality, safest and most advanced warships in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he ticked off challenges, from the \u201catrophy of our manufacturing industrial base\u201d to \u201csupply chain disruptions\u201d and \u201cinconsistent industry investment across the shipbuilding industrial base.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shelby Oakley, acquisition director for the Government Accountability Office, said in her prepared testimony that \u201cwithout a thorough retooling of its processes, the Navy is likely to continue creating conditions where overall fleet capability falls short of expectations and needs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite about $6 billion in investments by the Navy and Defense Department from 2014 though 2023 \u201cto improve the industrial base, they have yet to fully assess whether\u201d the dollars are \u201chaving the intended effect,\u201d she said. The Navy and Pentagon plan to spend an additional $12 billion for that purpose by 2028.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s navy \u2014 supported by the world\u2019s largest shipbuilding industry, which produces more than half of merchant ships globally \u2014 is rapidly growing and now has a\u00a0larger fleet\u00a0than the US.<\/p>\n
Congressional Research Service naval analyst Ronald O\u2019Rourke, who has followed the issue for 41 years, called cost increases in US Navy shipbuilding \u201csignificant and chronic.\u201d He said there\u2019s constant low-balling of costs to sell programs to Navy leaders and then to Congress.<\/p>\n
\u00a9\u00a02025\u00a0Bloomberg L.P.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The\u00a0US Navy\u00a0keeps falling short in shipbuilding, with costs too high and deliveries too slow, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":255271,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[273,298],"tags":[307],"class_list":["post-255270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-maritimes-news","category-seagoing-maritimes-news","tag-featured-en"],"yoast_head":"\n