Concerns That The U.S. Navy's 12-Ship Fleet Of Nuclear-Armed Submarines Will Cost More Than Projected

An artist rendering of the future Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine. Source: U.S. Navy illustration

Bloomberg: U.S. Nuclear-Armed Sub May Cost More Than Navy Says, GAO Warns

* Congress will need an updated cost estimate of program costs
* Navy officials likely to be grilled this week on new report

The U.S. Navy may have to ask Congress to boost funding in fiscal 2021 to buy the first in its new 12-ship fleet of nuclear-armed submarines because of unreliable cost estimates, according to congressional auditors.

The service’s current procurement cost estimate and design goal are suspect and require updates before those dollars are approved, the Government Accountability Office said in a report issued Monday. The submarine also continues to have problems first identified in 2017 with the vessel’s power system.

The Columbia-class program is estimated at $128 billion including research and development, with $115 billion for procurement. That makes it the Pentagon’s third-costliest system. But the cost estimate “is not accurate because it relies on overly optimistic” reductions in labor costs, the audit found.

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WNU Editor:  A Pentagon program costing more than projected. I am shocked!!!! Not!!!!