Rear Adm. Stephen E. Johnson is being assigned as director for Strategic Systems Programs, Washington, D.C. Johnson is currently serving as commander, Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Washington, D.C.

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Virginia Tells An “Incredible Story”

Skipper praises performances of sub and its crew

By Anthony Cronin, New London Day, 22 Jan 06

Groton -- Cmdr. Todd Cramer, commanding officer of the USS Virginia, is able to tick off a host of impressive statistics about the first of the Virginia class of attack submarines.

The Virginia's keel was laid in September 1999, it was christened in August 2003, commissioned in October 2004 and deployed on a 90-day mission in August 2005 -- far ahead of schedule.

“That's a remarkable milestone for the submarine force,” Cramer told a gathering of the Nautilus chapter of the Naval Submarine League on Friday. “And this is an incredible story about a submarine.”

Cramer, the featured speaker at the league's meeting, said the 377-foot Virginia is an impressive warship that features state-of-the-art technology throughout, including automated computer control, photonics, and laser technology that make the boat a marvel -- and a whole lot of fun to command.

Cramer said he was equally impressed with the submarine and its crew.

“This ship performed remarkably. The crew performed remarkably,” he said. “We accomplished all of our trials with no problems.”

The Virginia-class submarines are being jointly built in Groton by the Electric Boat shipyard and the Northrop Grumman Newport News shipyard in Virginia. They carry a price tag of about $2.4 billion and can perform a broad range of post-Cold War tasks, including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and special warfare operations.

The Virginia-class boats have a nine-man lockout chamber and can accommodate a Navy SEAL mini-submarine or a dry-deck shelter for special forces vehicles and equipment. In addition, the Virginia-class torpedo room can be reconfigured to accommodate a larger number of special operations troops. The submarine also has four 21-inch torpedo tubes and a dozen vertical-launch systems tubes.

The boat is undergoing post-construction work, called a “post shakedown availability,” at the Groton shipyard. The Virginia arrived Jan. 12 for the work, which could take up to a year and will involve hundreds of EB shipyard workers.

Cramer, who took command of the new boat in December 2004, told the sub league chapter that in the 400 or so days since its commissioning, the Virginia has been under way for about 220 days. During its 90-day deployment, it conducted operations in support of the global war on terrorism in the U.S. Southern Command, a territory that covers Central America south of Mexico and all of South America.

Cramer said the Virginia has many advanced features. Only two sailors, a pilot and co-pilot, are required to drive the boat, rather than four for other submarines, because of its automated computer features.

“The ship's control is automated and it detects what the pilots want to do,” Cramer said.

The control and command room features banks of computers and control screens, and the submarine has a photonics mast rather than a conventional periscope, which includes three cameras offering color, infrared and black-and-white pictures of the surface. The boat also has a laser range finder.

“It's an incredible tool,” Cramer said.

The commander said the Virginia steamed more than 90,000 nautical miles during its initial deployment before returning in November of last year.

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Submarine Group Ten Under New Command

Adm. Kenny relinquishes reins, retains command of Group Two

By Anthony Cronin, New London Day, 22 Jan 06

Groton - Rear Adm. Mark W. Kenny, commander of Submarine Group Two at the Naval Submarine Base in Groton, turned over his Submarine Group Ten responsibilities to Rear Adm. Frank M. Drennan during change-of-command ceremonies this past week at the Naval Submarine Base at Kings Bay, Georgia.

Kenny will continue his duties as commander of Submarine Group Two and serving as northeast region commander in Groton. Submarine Group Ten is located in Kings Bay.

Drennan, a native of Elberton, Ga., is the commander of Submarine Group Nine in Bangor, Wash., and now holds the additional duties as commander of Submarine Group Ten. Both of those submarine groups include Trident ballistic missile submarines, or SSBNs.

Navy officials said that Submarine Group Nine in Bangor will continue to report to the commander of Pacific fleet submarines, while Submarine Group Ten in Georgia will continue to report to the commander of Atlantic fleet submarines.

Navy officials said the change in command helps provide for a unified flag-level advocate for all administrative issues involving the Navy's SSBN ballistic missile submarines, as well as the new SSGN class of submarines, which are four former Trident ballistic missile submarines that have been specially outfitted with guided missiles. Navy officials also said the move allows for greater efficiencies within the Trident submarine force and the Navy.

As commander of Submarine Group Two, Kenny exercises command of North Atlantic attack submarine forces and has responsibility for Submarine Squadrons Two, Four and Submarine Development Squadron Twelve in Groton as well as Submarine Squadrons Six and Eight in Norfolk, Va. The Navy said the commander of Submarine Group Two also has responsibility for the training and certification of new construction and overhaul of ships and crew at the Electric Boat shipyard in Groton and the Navy-owned Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine.

Kenny is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and has a master's of arts in international relations from Salve Regina University in Newport, R.I. He also has completed the National Security and Strategic Studies Program from the Naval War College in Newport, R.I.

Kenny holds numerous awards, including the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal and numerous other unit and campaign awards.

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USS Ronald Reagan trains to find silent threat

The carrier group is part of a larger effort to detect submarines

By Audrey McAvoy, Associated Press (Honolulu Star Bulletin), 22 Jan 06

ABOARD THE USS RONALD REAGAN » Two Navy destroyers and a cruiser dangle sonar machines into the ocean to listen for enemy submarines lurking about 50 miles south of Honolulu. Naval aviators in P-3 surveillance planes and helicopters drop sonar buoys into the sea to give the sailors more ears below the surface.

The "enemy" submarines are not about to attack Hawaii. They're U.S. Navy submarines participating in anti-submarine warfare training against the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier strike group.

The exercises, held Jan. 9-12 near the Hawaiian Islands, are something Navy sailors will be doing more of in coming years. The U.S. Pacific Fleet has made training to track and fight submarines its top combat priority amid concerns its sailors' skills haven't been keeping up with the advanced diesel submarines China and other Pacific Rim countries have been buying.

"There is a real threat out there -- over 140 diesel submarines in the Pacific, and the technology on them is getting better every day," said Capt. David F. Steindl, who directed the Reagan strike group's ships and aircraft during the exercises. "We need to train constantly to be ready if we ever have to face that threat."

Steindl, commander of Destroyer Squadron 7 since April, said he's been spending twice as much time on anti-submarine warfare exercises compared to the last time he served at sea four years ago.

Now, he said, his team is training "almost constantly" for anti-submarine warfare.

Starting last summer, sailors aboard the Reagan spent months off San Diego matching their wits against the Gotland, a Swedish submarine that is among the world's quietest and hardest to detect diesel submarines.

The Gotland uses advanced technology to muffle the sound it emits. It also uses equipment allowing it to stay underwater for weeks at a time. Most diesel submarines have to surface every day to run their diesel and recharge their batteries, making them vulnerable to attack.

Steindl said his sailors found ways to track the Gotland during their exercises, though he declined to say how. He said the training prepared his crew well.

"If we can go against her, we can go against anyone," he said.

Other Navy ships will get to train against the Gotland until June when the Swedish sub is due to go home.

The Navy also has been training with other nations that have diesel subs in their fleets. Last fall, U.S. ships held separate exercises with the Australian, Indian, and Japanese navies.

The Navy plans for all 11 of its other aircraft carrier strike groups and all of its expeditionary strike groups -- vessels centered around amphibious assault ships -- to undergo similar training as the Reagan.

Tracking submarines fell down the Navy's list of priorities after the Cold War ended and the former Soviet Union began retiring some of its undersea vessels. The Pentagon more urgently needed the Navy for its ability to deliver fighter jets for air strikes in places like Iraq, Kosovo and Afghanistan.

The emergence of increasingly quiet diesel submarines, once too loud to present much of a threat to the Navy, however, has given anti-submarine warfare new prominence.

These diesel submarines aren't challenging the U.S. Navy's undisputed supremacy at sea. They can't go fast enough for long enough distances for that.

But they are quieter and thus harder to find, especially closer to shore where they have the greatest advantage.

Ten nations lining the Eastern Pacific own 212 diesel submarines, including 132 that fall in the SSK, or "hunter-killer" category, according to "The Military Balance 2005-2006," a book put out by The International Institute for Strategic Studies. China alone owns 64.

Just over half of China's diesel submarines are outdated Romeo-class subs, but Beijing moved to upgrade its fleet by acquiring four advanced Russian-made Kilo-class submarines in the 1990s and ordering eight more in 2002.

Owen Cote, associate director of the security studies program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said when it comes to submarines, the United States is most concerned about the possibility China would use its diesel subs to block commercial ship access to Taiwan.

He said Beijing could use the tactic to try to force Taiwan to capitulate if Taipei and Beijing ever faced off militarily.

China considers the self-governing island a renegade province and has vowed to invade it if Taiwan declares independence. While the United States does not have official ties with Taiwan, it has committed to defending the island if it is attacked by China.

Cote said the Navy might have some concerns about countering North Korean submarines if war broke out on the Korean peninsula or about fighting Iranian submarines in the Persian Gulf if conflict developed between Washington and Tehran. But he said such worries were not as significant.

Adm. Gary Roughead, the commander of the Pacific Fleet, said he was concerned that a country with capable submarines would try to disrupt the significant volume of trade that crosses the Pacific and contributes to the region's prosperity.

He said the nationality of the opposing submarine didn't concern him.

"I don't go chasing after flags," Roughead said. "If I can train our Navy, particularly the Pacific Fleet, to counter a particular capability, that is the most important thing. The flag is not important to me -- it's the capability. And I want to be able to dominate that capability."

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Defense Lawmakers Urge Navy To Boost Submarine Orders In FY09

By Megan Scully, CongressDaily/A.M., 18 January 2006

Rep. Rob Simmons, R-Conn., has urged the Navy to double its annual orders for Virginia-class nuclear submarines earlier than planned, a move that would help keep afloat a struggling sector of the defense industry and protect potentially thousands of jobs at General Dynamics' Electric Boat shipyard in his district.

In a letter late last week to Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Mullen, Simmons and other congressional supporters of the submarine program implored the Navy to boost production on the nuclear-powered vessels to two ships a year beginning in FY09, three years earlier than the Navy has planned.

The lawmakers argued that the Navy's slow procurement plan will hinder efforts to realize Mullen's goal of maintaining a fleet of 48 nuclear-powered submarines. The Navy now has 54 submarines, many of which will be retired over the next several years.

Under the Navy's current schedule, the submarine force would bottom out at 40 boats in 2028. Starting to build two subs a year in FY09 instead of FY12 would bring the number to 43.

In fact, a new Congressional Research Service report indicates that the Navy would have to average 2.2 new submarine orders a year for 16 years to prevent its fleet from dropping below the target number of 48.

"If the Navy requires 48 nuclear attack submarines, as you have suggested, then the shipbuilding plan should hold as close to that number as possible for as many years as possible," Simmons said in his letter, which was co-signed by six other members of the House Armed Services Committee. "The alternative is higher risk and less stability for our U.S. combatant commanders."

Simmons added that producing two boats a year would help bring overall costs on the $2.4 billion submarines down to the Navy's $2 billion goal.

Boosting submarine orders might be a tough sell because of a constrained budget environment. The Defense Department alone is expected to trim $32 billion from its projected budgets over the next five years.

And with the Navy set on procuring seven pricey next-generation destroyers and other ships over the next several years, it is unclear how realistic Simmons' request is.

But one key congressional staffer noted that submariners have been waiting since the early 1990s to beef up their production lines, which have been stagnant at one new ship a year for the last 15 years. "I think supporters have an argument here," the staffer said.

Amid fears of layoffs at Electric Boat, Simmons last month created the congressional submarine caucus to advocate for increased budgets for the Navy's underwater warfare programs. Several lawmakers already have signed on, including co-chair Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., who also signed the letter to Mullen. Electric Boat has a submarine outfitting facility at Quonset Point in Langevin's district.

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New Navy Chief Holds Fate of Subs

Ray Hackett , Norwich Bulletin, 21 JAN 06

Some final thoughts on some rather interesting developments that took place last week:

Newly sworn-in Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter visited the U.S. Submarine Base New London and Electric Boat facilities in Groton and Quonset Point, R.I., on Thursday. Winter made the fact-finding trip just 16 days after taking the job, raising hope that maybe projected layoffs at the shipyard might be avoided.

But I'm not so sure how much you can really read into that -- or, for that matter, how much Winter can actually do to bring more submarine business in this direction.

Winter inherits a Navy that top Department of Defense officials were determined to see restructured -- with a lesser emphasis on the submarine force.

Prior to his arrival on the scene, the Pentagon was determined to see both the Groton sub base and the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, in Kittery, Maine, closed.

An independent base-closing commission overturned those recommendations.

That resulted in the Navy advising EB last month that future submarine maintenance work would be shipped to Portsmouth, because there's not enough work to keep it busy if the work were divided.

EB and the state's congressional delegation are pressing the Defense Department and the Navy to increase submarine production from one a year to two.

But reports coming out of Washington suggest Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is looking to cut the defense budget next year by about $32 billion.

The Navy, in its own shipbuilding projection, is calling for fewer subs in the fleet.

Winter, in his new capacity, could affect some change in all of that. How much is really the question.

The easiest way to resolve the submarine problem, however, is through an act of Congress.

If Congress wants to appropriate the money to build two subs a year, all it has to do is put the money in the budget.

I'm sure Rumsfeld wouldn't complain if Congress gave him more -- and he didn't have to cut out something he wants to get it.

U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, R-2nd District, assembled a collection of influential colleagues from the House to support the sub base during last summer's base-closing process, all of whom also expressed "concern" over the potential decline in the number of subs in the fleet.

But much of that support came from the House Armed Services Committee. What Simmons -- as well as Sens. Christopher Dodd and Joseph Lieberman -- need to do is start gathering up some support from colleagues on the House and Senate Appropriations committees.

Without that kind of support, it's unlikely we'll see submarine production increased anytime soon.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell's commission to investigate and come up with new strategies to diversify the southeastern Connecticut economy appears lost in trying to figure out what exactly it is supposed to be doing.

The full commission -- more than 50 people -- has met only once. It'll assemble again Wednesday for a second meeting, expected to last about four hours, to discuss what's been done since its last meeting a month ago.

The executive committee -- nine people -- has met twice and so far has come up with a time frame to complete its work. The four working subcommittees -- whose memberships are still growing -- have each met only once.

The commission is made up of representatives from dozens of local groups involved in a variety of economic development endeavors.

The plan is to develop an interim report by the end of March, with a final report and recommendations forwarded to the governor by September.

In the meantime, there is a second group out there -- the Governor's Competitiveness Council -- that appears, at least on the surface, to be doing exactly the same thing but with a different group of people -- addressing the economic development needs of the state.

For what it may be worth, the best committee I've ever seen was a three-member group -- with one member on vacation and another in the hospital.

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Navy secretary likes what he sees at shipyard

By Michael Goot, Foster’s Daily Democrat, 21 Jan 06

KITTERY, Maine - New U.S. Navy Secretary Donald Winter praised the work done at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on Friday, but said it is premature to say if the number of employees should be increased to meet the present workload.

"I was very impressed with what I saw. I am pleased with the attitude of the people," said Winter, who spent about three hours touring the facility. "The people clearly have a real understanding of what it means to engage in a lean (operation)."

During the past few weeks, shipyard union officials and congressional delegations have been concerned about the talk of a hiring freeze at the shipyard. Earlier this month, union officials brought the matter to the attention of the congressional delegations, which wrote a letter to the U.S. Navy. Vice Admiral Paul Sullivan of the Naval Sea Systems Command wrote back stating that there was not a hiring freeze and they were hiring to fill vacancies caused by attrition.

At a separate news conference earlier in the day, U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, said there are some estimates that about 300 more workers would be needed at the yard to meet the projections of the future workload.

Winter said it was too early for him to make any statements about the future staffing levels at the yard because he is only 2 1/2 weeks on the job and he would defer such questions on hiring requirements to shipyard management. He is a former corporate vice president of the Mission Systems division of Northrop Grumman.

He also responded to a question about how he can reconcile the Navy's previous recommendation that the facility should be closed with the BRAC Commission's reversal of that decision last August.

"One of the great advantages I have here is coming in new," he said. "I really haven't spent much time watching the BRAC process. It is complete. It is law."

Winter said he wants to focus on where the Navy goes from here. "How do we best utilize the assets that we have?"

He said he had a chance to interact with most of the Maine and New Hampshire congressional delegations. "I hope to follow up extensively with them and maintain the dialogue," he said.

Winter also announced that the Navy was commissioning a new combat logistics force ship named after astronaut Alan Shepard, who was born in raised in East Derry. Shepard became the first American to man a mission in space in 1961. He also commanded the Apollo 14 mission to the moon in 1971.

The new 1,000-foot ship will be built in San Diego by the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company and is to be delivered to the Navy's fleet by March 2007.

Members of both congressional delegations said they were pleased Winter decided to visit the facility in one of his first official acts.

U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., said Winter told him that he wanted to see the place where the Portsmouth Peace Treaty was signed. "I really came here to see how the oldest shipyard in America could also be the most efficient shipyard in America," he said.

The delegation stressed how important it is that the facility increase its personnel to handle the workload in the coming years. Gregg said there is not a need for layoffs as the workload has increased at the shipyard. "They believe that they're at full capacity to the beginning of 2008," he said.

U.S. Sen. John E. Sununu, R-N.H., said the delegation wants to continue to make the case about the work force.

"The reason why we succeeded during the (Base Realignment and Closure) process is because of the workforce," he said. "They did the job better, more efficient than any other work force public or private."

Sununu said the shipyard cannot continue to operate efficiently if it does not have the personnel.

He added that the secretary had a chance to see the outstanding relationship between management and labor at the shipyard. Sununu said he and U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, have raised concerns about the effect of the Navy implementing personnel policies with a broad brush that could hinder that working relationship between management and labor. He said he has spoken with Sullivan about the need to maintain flexibility with these personnel policies.

U.S. Rep. Jeb Bradley, R-N.H., said it is not simply a matter of replacing those workers lost to attrition, but actually increasing the workload. Bradley said Winter can look at the situation with a fresh set of eyes.

"He's going to be willing take a look at some of the decisions the Navy has made in spreading out and allocating the work at our shipyards," he said.

Gov. John Lynch said Winter has the advantage of being the "new kid on the block" and not having gone through the BRAC process. He said he believes Winter understands why the BRAC Commission decided to remove the shipyard from the closure list and it is time to move forward.

U.S. Rep. Tom Allen, D-Maine, said he is also worried about the new personnel system. It would hurt the shipyard if "people feel their jobs are being made more difficult, not easier."

John Joyal, second vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said he is also concerned. "We don't want to be in a position where we get all this work and we don't have enough people to meet the workload," he said.

Paul O'Connor, Metal Trades Council president, said the delegation's message is organized labor's message as well. "Give us a decent workload and give us a work force that can perform that load," he said.

Winter also visited Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine, on Friday, where Snowe praised Winter for his "strong leadership" in boosting the Pentagon's shipbuilding budget and trying to increase the size of the Navy's fleet.

The delegation last year was successful in thwarting a proposal to have just one facility build the next-generation DD(X) stealth destroyer.

Under the new plan, both Bath Iron Works and Mississippi's Ingalls shipyard will work together on the design and each will build one warship.

Winter also toured Brunswick Naval Air Station, which is slated to close in 2009.

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Lobbying to secure yard’s future

By Elizabeth Kenny and Emily Aronson, Portsmouth Herald, 21 Jan 06

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL SHIPYARD - Lawmakers and shipyard workers said they used Navy Secretary Donald Winter’s visit Friday to lobby for the hiring of more shipyard workers and to assign an increased workload in future years.

Winter, who took the reigns of Navy secretary earlier this month, met with members of the New Hampshire and Maine congressional delegation and New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch during his tour of the facility.

While lawmakers were willing to talk about their push to hire more shipyard workers, Winter deflected questions on the matter at his own news conference later in the day.

While he pledged to follow up "extensively" with the congressional delegation and "maintain a dialogue," Winter said he could not comment specifically on future staffing levels.

"I would defer any questions in regards to the specifics of hiring to shipyard management," he said.

Winter said he understood concerns about future staffing and workload at the shipyard, but he said he also had to consider the Navy’s financial goals.

"I recognize the need to provide as much information as we can about future plans (for the shipyard)," he added.

Lawmakers’ argument for increased workload and the need for more workers, in the midst of what some are calling a hiring freeze at the yard, echoed those used to keep the yard open months ago.

"The most efficient shipyard should be getting work that keeps it at that level of efficiency," Sen. Judd Gregg said at a news conference earlier in the day. He later added that "we can’t live on past glories."

The news conference was sparsely attended compared to those held by the congressional delegation during the base closure process that had threatened the livelihood of the nearly 5,000 shipyard workers.

Members of the delegation said they will continue to fight for workers’ rights, specifically those that may be threatened by the Defense Department’s National Security Personnel System, over which workers have raised concerns.

Shipyard workers and members of the delegation also said they will keep their eyes on the future of the yard and continue to argue for more submarine work, past 2008.

Paul O’Connor, president of the Metal Trades Council, which represents nearly half of the yard’s workers, said the Navy’s current projection shows other shipyards will be given more than quadruple the amount of work assigned to Portsmouth.

O’Connor and other members of the delegation said they will continue to meet with Winter to express concerns and try and change that projection.

Lynch said Friday’s visit was an opportunity for Winter to "kick the tires."

"He came here to meet the men and women who make things happen, and I’m convinced he will come away with a deeper appreciation of the work done here," he said.

Following his tour, Winter said he was impressed with the shipyard facility. He said he was very pleased with workers’ commitment to lean processes, a Navy initiative to improve efficiency and productivity.

Rep. Tom Allen, D-Maine, said, "The yard has a story to tell, and it’s a good sign that (the secretary) is here so early in his tenure."

Winter, who was sworn in on Jan. 3, is a former corporate vice president of Mission Systems division of Northrop Grumman, which owns the Ingalls shipyard in Mississippi. Ingalls is the only shipyard besides Bath Iron Works in Maine that builds Navy destroyers. Winter toured the Bath facility, owned by General Dynamics, Friday morning.

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Analysts See Positive Future For Industry With New Shipbuilding Plan

By Jason Ma, Inside the Navy, 23 Jan 06

Now that the Navy has drafted a new long-term shipbuilding plan and committed to building a 313-ship fleet, defense industry analysts see a positive outlook for U.S. shipbuilders -- provided the Navy can follow through on its ambitious goals.

The Navy has spent on average $11.7 billion annually on shipbuilding between 2000 and 2005, according to the Congressional Budget Office. In the Fiscal Year 2006 Defense Department Appropriations Act, Congress provided $9.4 billion for new ship construction and ship conversion.

The draft report on the Navy’s 313-ship plan, dated Dec. 30, indicates the president’s FY-07 budget request, which the White House will formally unveil next month, will request $11.2 billion for shipbuilding and conversion. Further, the plan anticipates funding for that account will increase significantly and stay high in the years ahead: $15.1 billion in FY-08, $14.9 billion in FY-09, $15.9 billion in FY-10, $19.9 billion in FY-11 and $20.5 billion in FY-12.

Some Navy observers have doubted the likelihood of such dramatic increases in the shipbuilding budget. But J. P. Morgan analyst Joseph Nadol notes in a Jan. 10 paper that the FY-07 spending plan shows strong growth over previous plans. While the spending projection beyond FY-07 is essentially a “placeholder,” even a $2.2 billion annual reduction across the new plan would still represent growth in the budget, he notes. The lag between between budget authority and outlays, however, will probably prevent any “meaningful” growth in industry revenues until 2008, he adds.

Even as near-term revenue remains stagnant, profitability should show better growth, Nadol writes. Profit improvement should be especially substantial in 2006 as Northrop Grumman’s Gulf Coast shipyards recover from losses suffered in Hurricane Katrina and General Dynamics should no longer post large commercial shipbuilding losses, he predicts.

Prudential Equity Group analyst Byron Callan writes in a Jan. 17 paper that the 313-ship plan sends a stronger signal on the Navy’s vision than previous shipbuilding plans did. But in summarizing his takeaways from the Surface Navy Association’s annual conference this month, he notes that the plan can only be realized if industry reduces Shipbuilding costs. Callan notes there are skeptics of the Navy’s ability to dramatically increase its shipbuilding budget in coming years.

For industry, the 313-ship plan is “just about the best they could hope for, under the circumstances,” said Doug Berenson, a principal at DFI Corporate Services, noting that the plan preserves the DD(X) destroyer program and indicates a major investment in the Littoral Combat Ship. The submarine industrial base would have wanted the Navy to buy two attack submarines a year sooner than the new plan projects, but industry expected as much, he noted.

Overall, the new shipbuilding plan is positive for the industrial base, Berenson said. But the question remains: can the Navy actually execute the plan? “There’s a lot of skepticism, some of which I share,” he said.

Still, the plan seems “fairly realistic” in that there are no rapid ramp-ups in production, Berenson argued. For example, the Navy would not start buying two attack subs a year until FY-12, he pointed out. An area of concern, however, is the Navy’s goal to buy the first CG(X), a missile-defense ship, in FY-11 and if the ship’s radar and interceptor will be ready by then, he said.

Finding the additional money to boost the shipbuilding budget depends on how the Navy orders its priorities, Berenson said. When Adm. Vern Clark was chief of naval operations, he emphasized readiness and directed spending increases accordingly. But Clark’s successor, Adm. Michael Mullen, might decide to take some risks in readiness to scrape together more money for shipbuilding, perhaps cutting funds for personnel, flight hours and steaming days, Berenson said.

While the Navy regularly points out the importance of controlling costs better, there seems to be more urgency today in making that happen, Berenson said. For example, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England has formed a panel to look at acquisition reform, and top Navy officials have discussed reining in requirements better. Indeed, Rear Adm. Charles Hamilton, program executive officer for ships, said at the Surface Navy Association’s conference that the Navy ought to aim for “threshold,” or minimum, requirements more often, rather than spend additional money to reach “objective,” or preferred, requirements.

JSA Research analyst Paul Nisbet said said the Navy could reach 313 ships by building less expensive Littoral Combat Ships, which have a target cost of $220 million per hull, not counting their mission modules. The Navy also has been cutting its personnel numbers in recent years, reducing increasingly high manpower costs, he added. But improving efficiency and cost controls is always a concern, and he doubted efficiency could get better, especially given shipbuilding’s political sensitivity. As an example, he pointed to plans to build separate lead DD(X) destroyers at Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics.

“That’s the nature of the beast,” Nisbet said.

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DoD Study Recommends U.S. Shipyards Invest In Various Improvements

By Christopher J. Castelli, Inside the Navy, 23 Jan 06

The Defense Department has published a study of the shipbuilding industrial base that outlines deficiencies in certain areas at the six major private U.S. shipyards, but the Pentagon has decided the companies are capable of funding the recommended improvements and DOD funding would be inappropriate.

The study was performed for DOD by an independent consultancy firm, as required by the Fiscal Year 2005 National Defense Authorization Act.

The firm, First Marine International, concluded the six major yards have made progress in improving shipbuilding best practices since a previous round of benchmarking was conducted in 1999. However, the new review found more emphasis should be placed on improving production design and engineering, quality control and information technology (enterprise planning systems).

The report also notes that U.S. naval vessels appear to have more work content and increasingly complex ship designs compared to international vessels.

Companies that supply materials and equipment for naval vessels account for a higher proportion of the cost of a ship than the shipyard’s added value, according to the study. In other words, these suppliers have a significant influence on the costs and schedules of Navy shipbuilding programs.

The report was released online Jan. 20 by DOD’s industrial policy office, but a cover letter enclosed in the document indicates the report was sent to Congress Jan. 9. Pentagon acquisition chief Kenneth Krieg signed the letter.

In addition to the overall benchmarking assessment, First Marine International proposed company-proprietary benchmarking results for each individual shipyard. These results provided shipyard-specific recommendations of discrete actions for each of the six yards, according to the letter.

“The investment requirements necessary to implement these plant improvements are in line with the investment profiles of the world’s best shipbuilders and appear to be supportable based on U.S. shipbuilder profit margins,” Krieg writes. “It is my expectation that the shipyards will use their own resources if they choose to pursue these improvements.”

This is different from a report issued last May by DOD’s industrial policy office, which recommended the creation of a multiyear investment fund to recapitalize parts of the U.S. shipbuilding industrial base in order to reduce inefficiencies.

Gary Powell, the acting deputy under secretary of defense for industrial policy, provided Inside the Navy a statement Jan. 20, through a spokeswoman, explaining the discrepancy in the reports. The industrial policy office was responsible for both studies. The May 2005 report represented the views of that office, but did not represent DOD’s official position, he said. Ultimately, DOD decided not to endorse the May 2005 recommendation to establish a multiyear shipbuilding industrial base investment fund, Powell told ITN.

The newly released report reflects a formal DOD view of the six major private U.S. shipyards, he said. DOD decided the six yards have “the financial wherewithal to fund necessary capital investments, themselves” and DOD funding “was not appropriate,” he said.

The report released Friday notes the Navy and the government as a whole sometimes have an adverse effect on shipyard performance through instability in acquisition programs, Federal Acquisition Regulations, the design and oversight process, the management of change orders, contract terms and conditions, and unstable funding performance programs such as the National Shipbuilding Research Program.

A recent draft of the Navy’s long-term shipbuilding plan presupposes the shipbuilding budget will increase substantially in the coming years, but outside analysts question the realism of the projections, arguing the Navy plan may not be affordable (ITN, Jan. 16, p1).

At the Surface Navy Association’s annual conference this month in Arlington, VA, Congressional Budget Office analyst Eric Labs said the new 313-ship plan “raises questions about whether it is affordable, and thus whether it is executable.”

Ron O’Rourke, a defense analyst with the Congressional Research Service, said the executability of the Navy’s plan appears to depend on a lot of things working out the way the Navy hopes, with few or no bad surprises. But the Navy does not always get what it wants and unforeseen budget shocks can happen, he noted.

O’Rourke devoted his presentation to exploring the possibility that the Navy will be unable to afford buying two major surface combatants per year.

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German Submarines to be Powered by Fuel Cells

Fuel Cells Today, 23 Jan 06

In October 2005 the German Navy officially commissioned two new submarines (the first new submarines commissioned by German Navy since 1975) which are to be powered by fuel cells.

The submarine fuel-cell system converts hydrogen and oxygen into electrical energy (300-600 V). According to a press release from Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW) (Kiel. Germany), the heart of the fuel-cell system is the Siemens KWU (Erlangen, Germany) polymer electrolyte-membrane (PEM) fuel cell. It contains a solid polymer electrolyte that conducts hydrogen ions to a cathode, where they react with oxygen. The fuel cells are assembled in rows and form one complete module within a pressure-tight housing. The PEM fuel cell operates at low temperatures (less than 80°C), and its efficiency is claimed to be roughly 60%. Hydrogen and oxygen are stored in special cylinders in the submarine's hull. The submarine also has a diesel engine for surface operation, and it can recharge its battery either when surfaced or when snorkeling at periscope depth.

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Le Figaro: DCN and TKMS to examine possibility of joint submarine programme

Le Figaro , 18 January 2006

French military shipbuilder DCN is to examine the possibility of producing a joint submarine with German rival TKMS. The Franco-German project has been given the name 'Marlin' and will involve a new generation of conventional submarines, which will be produced for export. It is thought that the project could potentially be opened up to include Spanish company Navantia at a later date.

In 2006, DCN also intends to implement the agreement signed with French defence electronics specialist Thales on December 15. As part of this agreement, Thales will acquire a 25 per cent holding in DCN, while DCN will also take over certain assets from Thales. DCN says that further consolidation on the market will be necessary, as margins will remain low if European companies continue to compete commercially.

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