Controlling Life-Cycle Costs for Naval Surface Ships

Abstract

The American Society of Naval Engineers and Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers SD-8 Navy Ships Panel, SD-4 Arrangements Panel, and SD-10 Hull Panel, co-sponsored a workshop at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory on March 30-31, 2011 to explore three challenging and timely issues facing the Navy acquisition and operations organizations.Working Group One was led by RADM Bill Wyatt (Ret), RADM Bob Traister (Ret), Captain Barry Tibbitts (Ret), and Captain Brian Perkinson (Ret). The objective of this working group was to identify what actions can be taken to control the life-cycle costs (LCC) of surface ships. Dr. Norbert Doerry, Technical Director Technology Group, Naval Sea Systems Command, led Working Group Two. The objective of this working group was to develop a list of potential obstacles in the design, acquisition, construction, testing, and in-service support of a surface ship that has strong decoupling of the combat systems from the host ship “truck.” Jason Thomas, chair of the SD-10 hull form panel, led Working Group Three. The objective of this working group was to explore improvements for conveying the design across the contractual boundary and discuss the flexibility left for the shipbuilder during detail design. This paper summarizes the collective thoughts and recommendations of various participants of this workshop with an emphasis on the LCC issue.