The first littoral combat ship under construction at Austal USA's Mobile shipyard is facing a cost overrun of between 50 percent and 75 percent, a Navy spokesman said this week.Hat tip RP.
In a Monday interview, Lt. Cmdr. John Schofield did not have a dollar figure for the anticipated overrun. But if the original construction contract cost of $223 million is used as a starting point, the ship's expected price tag has jumped by about $110 million or more.
Schofield, who said he was summarizing recent remarks by Navy Secretary Donald Winter, did not return an e-mail and several phone messages Tuesday seeking more information about the overrun.
He also did not respond to an e-mail seeking confirmation of a report Tuesday in the Wall Street Journal's online edition that the cost of the Austal ship is now pegged at $325 million, or slightly less than a 50 percent increase. The Journal did not say where it got that figure.
...on Capitol Hill, worries are mounting over the bills for what was supposed to be a relatively cheap program.
The reported cost overruns on the Austal ship are "disturbing, but much more information is needed," U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett of Maryland said in a statement Tuesday. Bartlett is the top Republican on the House Armed Services Seapower subcommittee.
While the panel's chairman, U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., could not be reached for comment, Bartlett said the two of them "are working together to get more information before jumping to conclusions about how Congress should respond."
2 hours ago
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