The Navy's New Nuclear Missile Submarines Are Probably Going to Cost More Than $128 Billion

[Eugene]

Source: Bloomberg

The Navy's New Nuclear Missile Submarines Are Probably Going to Cost More Than $128 Billion

BY TONY CAPACCIO / BLOOMBERG APRIL 8, 2019

(Bloomberg) — The U.S. Navy may have to ask Congress to boost funding in fiscal 2021 to buy the first in its new 12-ship fleet of nuclear-armed submarines because of unreliable cost estimates, according to congressional auditors.

The service’s current procurement cost estimate and design goal are suspect and require updates before those dollars are approved, the Government Accountability Office said in a report issued Monday.

The Columbia-class program is estimated at $128 billion including research and development, with $115 billion for procurement. That makes it the Pentagon’s third-costliest system.

In two years, the Navy plans to request procurement funds to buy the lead vessel. The Navy’s goal is to have 83 percent of its design complete before it begins construction in October 2020. General Dynamics Corp. is the lead contractor, with Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. as the top subcontractor.

-snip-

Read more: http://time.com/5566107/navy-nuclear-missile-cost/

[gtar100]

1. I'm sure money is no object.

We worry about budgets only when the money in question is going to the welfare of people.

[nitpicker]

2. GAO: Navy "Overly Optimistic" On Columbia Sub Costs

https://breakingdefense.com/2019/04/gao-navy-overly-optimistic-on-columbia-sub-costs/?_ga=2.193407019.704886332.1554804273-1385115421.1501579770

GAO: Navy “Overly Optimistic” On Columbia Sub Costs

The Navy's most expensive shipbuilding program and the key to the country's nuclear triad is under increasing pressure to keep to its tight schedule, and hit its budget.
By Paul McLeary
on April 08, 2019 at 4:18 PM

(snip)
Current Navy plans call for construction on the first of 12 Columbia-class nuclear-armed submarines to begin in 2021, with an overall price tag of $128 billion. But the GAO’s latest audit of the program found that the Navy both failed to account for typical shipbuilding cost increases, and the complexity of actual “hands-on” labor hours it will take to build the boats.
(snip)
GAO didn’t venture its own estimate, but it cited a study by its sister agency, the Congressional Budget Office, that the Columbia program might cost almost $145 billion — 13 percent above the Navy figure.
(snip)