What has struck the most USN ships in 50 years again?

Call me silly, but there are some things that should focus one's efforts.

The total cost of a Navy remotely piloted submarine has grown so much that top service officials notified Congress this week that it could end up more than 85 percent above original estimates, the Navy said Friday.

Navy officials say the Remote Mine-hunting System, which includes an unmanned submarine and its AN/AQS-20 sonar, could together cost about $22.4 million per copy, a spike of 85.3 percent over the original estimate,

Phil Ewing at Navy Time, once again, showing why he earns his paycheck.

Funny, fewer people object when I call LCS a uni-mission ship. Looks like that whole "swapy-swapy" mission module thingy looks less an less like a viable CONOPS.

Officials said the increase in cost for the RMS was caused by the Navy’s decision to delete the unmanned sub from the anti-submarine mission packages designed for littoral combat ships. The RMS will remain a part of the mine countermeasure mission modules. The revised goal of buying 54 such mini-subs, instead of 108, caused the unit costs to increase, Chen said.

... and now for the second order effect.

The Navy initially experimented with fielding RMS gear aboard its Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, six of which were modified with a door on their starboard sides to launch and recover the mine subs. But destroyers will no longer carry them, so the Navy’s review is to see what changes are needed to adapt the subs exclusively to LCS, Chen said.

Technicians are also determining what will take the place of the RMS in the LCS anti-submarine mission modules.

Good question.

LCS - the gift that keeps giving. Each month, more and more people are joining us and saying;

"My god; it's full of cr@p!"

Samuel B. Roberts, Princeton, Tripoli, Magpie, Pirate, Pledge, Sarsi, Brush, Mansfield, Walke, Ernest G. Small, Barton, - do we need more examples?

Has anyone else found some meaning of LCS and MIW when it comes to Kipling's Arithmetic on the Frontier?

No? Well, any excuse for Kipling ....

A scrimmage in a Border Station –

A canter down some dark defile –

Two thousand pounds of education

Drops to a ten-rupee jezail.

For MIW - can we talk - again - about Plan B?