One definition of insanity is to repeat a set of actions and
expect a different result.
The Navy is procuring a new class of ocean surveillance
ships (T-AGOS). That’s fine. However, they’re contracting with Austal to
design them. Austal, you’ll recall,
designed the Independence variant LCS. I
won’t bore you with a litany of the shortcomings and design flaws of that
ship. I would simply ask, after the massive
failure of the LCS, why would we immediately turn around and contract with
Austal again? We contracted with them
before and they failed miserably so we think that if we contract with them
again the result will be success? I
refer you to the definition of insanity at the start of the post.
On a related note, the T-AGOS mission is to tow sonar arrays
around and collect acoustic data. The
Navy’s cost estimate is around $430M per ship.
What is the one thing we know, with 100% certainty, about Navy cost
estimates? That’s right … they’re always
ridiculously low. So, we’re looking at a
$500M-$600M ship, minimum.
This ship just tows a sonar array. It has no radars, no weapons, no fire
control, no electronic countermeasures, no high speed, no stealth, no
survivability enhancements, no complicated propulsion system, a crew of around
40, and is likely built to commercial standards (unverified, as yet). It’s an upsized, ocean going tugboat! Can it really cost over half a billion
dollars? Can’t some commercial cargo
ship do the job for a tiny fraction of the price? Couldn’t we buy a used commercial vessel for
pennies on the dollar, mount some sonar array mechanisms and computers and call
it a day?
Insanity.
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| T-AGOS-25 Concept Image |
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