If This Weren't Typical, It Would Be Laughable

The Navy has a program to modernize its Aegis Cruisers (Ticonderoga Class), and as is typical for all US defense procurement efforts, it is not going well:

This week the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a groundbreaking report on the lessons and failures of the Cruiser Modernization program, building on the statements of U.S. Navy officials throughout the program’s history.

The Cruiser Modernization program was initiated as a result of the Navy’s intent to begin decommissioning the Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser fleet. The retirement of the first seven Ticonderoga-class cruisers was proposed in 2012. Congress rejected this proposal and provided funds to modernize the fleet of Ticonderoga-class cruisers, marking the start of the Cruiser Modernization program that would last nearly 15 years.

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After back-and-forth between the U.S. Navy and Congress regarding specifics of the Phased Modernization Plan submitted as part of the President’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2015, the U.S. Navy adopted a “2-4-6” strategy. According to the GAO, this strategy consisted of the following:

“A total of 11 cruisers [modernized] over 10 years by inducting no more than 2 cruisers each year into modernization cycles, for up to 4 years in modernization, and with no more than 6 cruisers undergoing modernization at the same time.”Government Accountability Report on the Cruiser Modernization program

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The entire Cruiser Modernization plan proved to be a failure for the U.S. Navy. 

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According to the GAO, the main point of failure in the Cruiser Modernization program was a lack of long-term planning and preparation for such a complex task. The program experienced over 9,000 contract changes, resulting in delays and scope creep that made modernization extremely difficult for contractors and U.S. Navy inspectors. Little to no preparation was done in the planning, and no alternatives were considered.

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The original cost for the modernization of five Ticonderoga-class cruisers, the USS Cowpens, USS Vicksburg, USS Gettysburg, USS Chosin, and USS Cape St. George, was estimated at $2.44 billion. According to GAO findings, the cost of this estimate grew by 36%, or nearly $881 million.

Schedule delays also marred the program. Cruiser Modernization had a planned modernization period of four years, as part of the 2-4-6 plan, but actual modernization periods that stretched between 3 years to 5 years, with each ship unique in its needs for modernization and repair. Four ships brought into their modernization periods were never completed; USS Hué City, USS Anzio, USS Cowpens, and USS Vicksburg.

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The U.S. Navy spent nearly $4 billion to modernize three Ticonderoga-class cruisers, giving those cruisers a cumulative 10 years of service life extension to 2030. The most recent extension was announced by Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro in early November. Naval News detailed the final breakdown of the Ticonderoga-class cruiser fleet here.

Of that $4 billion total, $1.84 billion was spent on four cruisers that never returned to the fleet. If the U.S. Navy moved ahead with the completion of modernization of one of those four cruisers, the USS Cowpens, it would take at least $88 million and an additional three years of drydock work according to the Surface Ship Modernization Program Office.

And people wonder why the Russia out-produces the United States in artillery shells despite having a GDP roughly 1/15 that of the US.

The US defense procurement system is completely broken.