Monday, May 11, 2009

You ain't seen nothing yet ....

We haven't kicked the DDG-1000 dead horse in a while - but Galrahn gives me an excuse.
... the Virginia class is over budget by $45.6 million (~2%), the LPD-17 is over budget by $99.3 million(~6%), and the DDG-1000 is already over budget by $309.6 million (~9%).

Like I said, we don't know why, perhaps John Young who touted "on cost, on schedule" all last year can make himself available for comment?

Considering this is previous fiscal year, it happened before October 1, 2008, over 6 months ago and more importantly after Congress pushed ahead with the third DDG-1000 in the FY09 budget. One can't help but have a really bad feeling when the new $3.5 billion dollar destroyer that has only been under construction for 3 months is already 9% over budget.

The DDG-1000 may get fixed price contracts for the 2nd and 3rd ship, but something tells me the first one is going to cost a lot more than John Young's $3.5 billion number, and I won't be surprised if it costs more than the 55,000 ton yet to be built brand new USS America (LHA 6) when it is all said and done.
Wait until all those new systems being thrown on that ship need to be validated, updated, adjusted, etc.

Yes, the costs of throwing all your revolution in one bucket will leave you gobsmacked. DDG-1000: the story that will keep on giving.

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