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Navy, Industry Leaders Address Affording Capability

By RICHARD R. BURGESS, Managing Editor

The Navy needs to look at a range of options for solutions to warfighting requirements if it is to keep capability appetites from driving up the costs of its weapon systems, said Adm. Jonathan Greenert, commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command.

Addressing a seminar audience at the Navy League's 2008 Sea-Air-Space Exposition in Washington March 18, Greenert said the Navy has had a "fixation with kinetic solutions," usually defined as hard-kill (missiles, bombs, etc.) capabilities. He said the Navy needs to look at options such as adjusting tactics, using jamming and other soft-kill methods, and improving intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities to reduce the risk inherent in developing capabilities.

Greenert recommended "bringing industry in earlier in the process to get a three-dimensional view" of the Navy's requirements in order to bring predictability and constancy in a design-before-build process.

Marion Blakey, president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association, noted a similar impediment to affordable capability in the aerospace industry.

Blakey said "the lure of the art of the possible" brings in "requirements creep" that drives up cost and ultimately impacts availability of systems and platforms. She stressed the importance of modernizing acquisition processes, increased research and development, and stability of the work force as key to affordability.

Blakey encouraged integrated life-cycle support of systems, inasmuch as approximately 70 percent of cost over the life of a system is incurred after the production.

Ron O'Rourke, specialist in national defense for the Congressional Research Service, encouraged the Navy to look at emulating the Air Force's frank assessment of its budget needs, and its call for a $20 billion increase in its top line to meet its requirements. The Navy avoids asking for more funding, he said, and its modesty reduces the credibility - and eventually executability - of its shipbuilding budget submissions. The Navy needs to talk more openly about its need for funding to avoid a distortion of U.S. defense planning, he said.

O'Rourke also said the Navy needs to have a "plain and direct" discussion about China's defense modernization and how the Navy will address its potential challenge.

Mike Petters, corporate vice president and president of Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, said the shipbuilding industry needs clear and stable requirements, realistic and stable funding, and solid program execution for the industry to control costs and deliver the desired capability to the fleet. He also has a responsibility to company shareholders to bring predictability to financing, which he termed as critical to the industry.