Defense Contracting in a Microcosm

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Canceled!


Available at 1/80 the cost

The US Navy has, for some time, been working on the Advanced Seal Delivery System (ASDS),^* indended to deploy navy Seal teams from submerged submarines to shore.

The program has delivered one prototype, at a cost of $885 million, well above the initial cost of $80 million a boat, and so the program was finally canceled after a fire broke in the lead unit out when the batteries were being recharged.

Well a private firm, the Submergence Group, is offering their private venture proposal, which is smaller, about 1/3 the displacement, but only costs about $10 million.

And, by the by, that $10 million is a firm number. They have already built one, and it works.

What's more it fits in the existing Dry Dock Shelter that he seals use for their current delivery vehicle, the Mark 8 Mod 1 minisub, only it has a dry environment, which means that transiting, or waiting over long periods of time won't, as is the case with the Mk 8, require hanging out in wet suits in the water.

^*Full disclosure, while I never worked on this program, I worked at the company that designed the Lithium-Ion battery packs for the ASDS, and talked with a few of the people who worked on its design.