Another budget failure

The Littoral Combat Ship is a fast naval combat vessel designed to work in areas close to shore and known as the littoral zone. The U.S. Navy LCS was designed with different modules to allow the ship to be adaptable for missions as a mine sweeper, support for combat troops in battle ashore and it could be equipped with small craft, helicopters, or assault troops and vehicles. In addition the LCS would have the ability to engage enemy craft in the open sea.

The idea of a ship capable of quickly re-equipping to meet various missions was intriguing, but there were those in the Navy and the Department of Defense who doubted that a single small ship could be designed to carry out all of those various missions adequately. Two differently designed ships were contracted and tested to find the best ship for the Navy's needs. The LCS 1 design was intended for enclosed waters such as those of the Middle East, while the LCS 2 was intended for the open ocean. The first two ships were commissioned in November 2008 and in January 2010. Updates to the two designs have been numerous and have occurred constantly with early ships retrofitted to meet new standards. The LCS program has come in substantially over budget, and the Navy has reduced the original order from 52 to 32 ships.

The LCS plan is again being looked at after the USS Milwaukee had a complete propulsion failure off Halifax, Canada, and needed to be towed back to Virginia. Navy Times is reporting that the "engineering casualty" was apparently caused by fine metal particles in the lubrication oil filter after having apparently traveled through the engine. U.S. Sen. John McCain, the head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said, "Reporting of a complete loss of propulsion on USS Milwaukee (LCS 5) is deeply alarming, particularly given this ship was commissioned just 20 days ago."

The history of the LCS is a perfect example of how dysfunctional the Department of Defense and the Congress are when it comes to monitoring the expenditure of federal funds in approving and supervising military contracts. Discussing the DOD budget is useless until this issue is resolved. Throwing more money at it will not fix the problems.

Jack Dragoni attended Boston College and served in the U.S. Army in Berlin and Vietnam. He lives in Chaffee, Missouri.