A Dual-Ship Approach to the 21 st Century Surface Combatant (SC21) Program
Abstract
The rapid decline of the defense budget since the fall of the Soviet Union has led to severely reduced procurement accounts for all the Military Services, and these declining budgets are likely to continue well into the next decade. For the Department of the Navy, with its many competing procurement demands, the declining budgets mean that: (a) future shipbuilding must be scaled back, and (b) the question of quantity versus capability will become the paramount question as the Navy develops requirements for all new ships. In this paper, which was prepared prior to the start of the Cost and Operational Analysis of the next-generation surface combatant (SC21), I propose that one alternative that should be considered for the SC21 requirement is a set of two ships: a fully capable ship and a moderately capable ship, with the moderately capable design potentially having Coast Guard and foreign military sales application. For maximum standardization and affordability, the two ship types should be designed concurrently by one design team and introduced into the fleet at the same time in a mix consistent with fleet sizing requirements. To meet expected budgetary constraints, both ship types should be developed with firm design-to-cost constraints.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 1995
- Accession Number
- ADA362411
Entities
People
- Anthony R. Ditrapani
Organizations
- Center for Naval Analyses