LCS: more scalps please

John is getting more of his scalps - not content with one RDML, I want some more too - SES (aka well paid Civil Servant) preferred.

A Navy program to build a new combat ship to patrol coastal waters will face another cost increase, government officials acknowledged yesterday, a hit to the service's attempt to keep expenses under control so it can afford a larger fleet.

The increase is expected to affect a version of the ship being built by General Dynamics ...

There is the other shoe. If the traditional hull was going to be a problem - you know the cool looking trimaran would be as well.

The size of the increase is still unclear, but it may be similar in scope to an overrun encountered on another version of the ship being built by Lockheed Martin. That one is now projected to cost $350 million to $375 million, according to Navy officials. The two ships were initially priced at about $220 million each.

Fine, fire, investigate and jail. License build 20 or so European designed Corvette already in production until we fix our nightmare of incompetence and corruption.

The cost increases reflect a variety of problems, including that the vessels were being designed and built simultaneously while the contractors were also implementing new design standards, said Delores Etter, the Navy acquisition chief. The program was given an ambitious schedule following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and there wasn't enough oversight by the Navy or the contractors, she said. "I think trying to manage a program, that is all billion-dollar programs, is always a challenge," Etter said during a briefing with reporters. Speaking of the cost escalation in the littoral combat ship program, she added, "We should have known it earlier."

You did know. If you didn't, someone lied to you or is grossly incompetent. This isn't new. I don't buy the business as usual excuse either. This is the 21st century. Just because the Teamsters historically have had a connection to the mafia does not make corruption OK in 2007.

If you really want to benchmark civilian best practices you would do what any company would do. Fire the majority of the middle to upper management and cooperate with the Justice Dept. to determine if there were actionable crimes that took place.

Given that only about half of the ship's construction is complete, "it would be premature to estimate what the final construction cost would be," said General Dynamics spokesman Rob Doolittle.

This guy should be one of the top 10 personnel brought in front of Rep. Waxman (D-CA).

...and no, I will not let the shipbuilding "thingy" go. It is a disgrace not worthy of our Navy.