{"id":46611,"date":"2021-01-11T21:18:02","date_gmt":"2021-01-11T21:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/01\/11\/heres-the-us-navys-plan-to-stop-its-string-of-shipbuilding-failures\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:09:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:09:05","slug":"heres-the-us-navys-plan-to-stop-its-string-of-shipbuilding-failures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2021\/01\/11\/heres-the-us-navys-plan-to-stop-its-string-of-shipbuilding-failures\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s the US Navy\u2019s plan to stop its string of shipbuilding failures"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The U.S. Navy\u2019s top officer has laid down the gauntlet: The service must deliver two new classes of surface ships on time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After 20 years of what two leading lawmakers last year called \u201cabsurd acquisition debacles,\u201d the Navy is changing its approach. Instead of building ships and technologies in concert \u2014 as it did with the Zumwalt-class destroyer, the littoral combat ship and the Ford-class carrier \u2014 the Navy will move forward by designing hulls around fielded systems with room for upgrades, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday<\/a> said Monday at the annual Surface Navy Association symposium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m enthused about our approach to shipbuilding because it will be critical to making the future fleet a reality,\u201d Gilday said. \u201cWe\u2019ve decoupled new technology development from building ships. Instead, we\u2019re designing them with program-of-record systems in their baseline and margins to insert future technologies when they\u2019re tested and ready.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gilday pointed to the future frigate FFG(X) as the model for that approach, saying that the ship was on track to join the fleet by 2026. The approach will also be applied to the new large surface combatant, a new DDG, Gilday said, both of which must be delivered on time and without major cost overruns.<\/p>\n\n\n\t