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The Pentagon’s acquisition executive has challenged the Navy to wring $7.7 billion from the cost estimate for the Ohio-class submarine replacement program by 2014, a reduction of more than 12 percent from current estimates that is likely to drive deliberations about what technologies might be shed from the new sub class. Rear Adm. David Johnson, program executive officer for submarines, said the Defense Department’s current estimate for the Ohio Replacement Program is $5.6 billion average cost per boat — excluding the price for the lead ship, traditionally the most expensive. That estimate is $700 million per boat higher than the cost target set by the Office of the Secretary of Defense for most of the 12-boat fleet. “That’s our task: Drive our ship-two-though-12 costs down to $4.9 billion,” Johnson said in a Feb. 18 interview with InsideDefense.com. “That’s frankly what the Navy pays me to do.”
The Navy hopes to begin detailed design in 2015 and construction in 2019, with the first sub to hit the water in 2026 and on patrol by 2029. In pursuing that schedule, the service hopes to replicate its recent success in cutting costs from the Virginia-class submarine program, reductions that were accompanied by capability improvements.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_class_submarine
http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=58368
