Improving Naval Ship Acquisition

This is a policy proposal written by Austin Vernon and myself for improving US naval shipbuilding. It was produced for Rebuilding.tech, a techno-industrial policy playbook curated by IFP, FAI, and American Compass. USS Iowa, one of the many WWII-era ships designed in-house by the Navy. US Naval vessels today regularly take far longer to build than scheduled, and greatly exceed their already-high cost estimates. A 2018 GAO report found that more than 80% of both lead ships (the first ship built of a series) and follow-on ships (subsequent ships of the series) were over budget, sometimes dramatically so. The first Zumwalt-class destroyer was over budget by 38%, and the first two Littoral Combat Ships were over budget by 150%. Similarly, of eight lead ships reviewed by the GAO, every one was delivered behind schedule, and five of the eight ships were delivered two years late or more. Delays and cost overruns are wasteful and hamper the effectiveness of the Navy: reducing them would mea ... Read full article.