By Kris Osborn – Warrior Maven
Kris Osborn, Warrior Maven
Hello and welcome to the Center for Military Modernization, Warrior Maven, very significant conversation today in a changing global threat environment. We are joined by two representatives of industrial base coalition’s one for the amphibious warfare ship based coalition, as well as one for the aircraft carriers who have a specific expertise with construction and development of aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships.
So let’s make sure to welcome Captain Dave Forster, who is actually a former Navy captain, who was manager for the integrated combat system on the USS Zumwalt the well known famous stealthy destroyer program, and a former surface warfare officer. And then Mr. Rick Giannini, who’s in charge of the aircraft carrier industrial base coalition. He is also the CEO of the Milwaukee Valve Company. So both of these experts have a deep knowledge of Navy needs. And of course, the Navy’s situation. Thanks for both of you. Joining us today. Glad to be here.
Kris Osborn, Warrior Maven
Indeed, a couple quick follow ups one, I was impressed by the force performance and shock trials, as you know, there was some discussion about whether there would be shock trials. Sure enough, the survivability based on the assessment are quite positive in terms of its ability to withstand nearby explosions. So given that, what’s your sense of additional technological enhancements to the fourth class as they continue to mature?
USS Ford Shock Trials
Chairman, Rick Giannini
Speaking from the supply base, I’m not as versed with technical aspects going forward. What I will say and comment on the the shock test, which was very impressive full ship shock test with very little issues that weren’t able to be resolved on the ship itself.
So from that perspective, outstanding performance, setting us up. What I will say is that going forward, they’re going to incorporate newer technologies, along with the whole air-wing. So trying to do things in concert, which should prove to last, you know, for decades to come.
Kris Osborn, Warrior Maven
That’s critical in terms of continued monetization. I’m really glad you made that point. Because the US footprint, the Navy footprint with aircraft carriers, is arguably so dominant globally, in terms of global presence and forward presence will be so key, especially in places like the Pacific but as a follow up, I had an interesting thought about the Ford class because there’s so much discussion about delays cost overruns, etc.
Yet I remember covering it at the time and talking to the program managers. They talked about non recurring developmental costs that because there was the advent of some cutting edge technologies, there were some initial expenses up front to lay the foundational the groundwork for years of modernization. So what is your sense of the cost efficiency moving forward? Because that gets so many eyeballs in Congress?
Chairman, Rick Giannini
That is absolutely right. As you mentioned, it has more technologies than any other carrier brought forward at one point in time. And while yes, there were some delays, and some cost overruns, in comparison to prior carriers, they’re a fraction of the overruns.
And I might not be 100%. right, but I know that the majority of the issues found, like over 80% of them were able to be resolved onboard the ship without having to come back in VR. So I would say technically, it’s outstanding going forward, it will be it will be a fantastic ship and 79 is definitely lower and 80 and 81 are going to be lower cost yet because of those block buys.
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Kris Osborn is the Defense Editor for the National Interest. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
