Surface Ships: Status of the Navy's Phased Modernization Plan
Abstract
In March 2014, as part of the President s Budget for Fiscal Year 2015, the Navy proposed a Phased Modernization Plan that included placing 11 Ticonderoga-class cruisers (large surface combatants) and three dock-landing ships (amphibious ships) into a phased modernization and maintenance period to reduce near-term funding requirements and as a means to extend the life of the ships. House Report 113-446 accompanying the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 included a provision for GAO to review the costs, cost savings, benefits, and risks associated with the Navy s Phased Modernization Plan. This report (1) describes the implementation plans the Navy developed for phased modernization and (2) assesses the extent to which the Navy identified and analyzed alternatives for achieving the goals of phased modernization. In February 2015, as part of the President s Budget for Fiscal Year 2016, the Navy proposed a revised Phased Modernization Plan that significantly altered its original proposal. However, it was not until we completed our review that the Navy provided us with a limited amount of information about their revised phased modernization plans. We provided a briefing of our preliminary results to the House Armed Services Committee staff in March 2015. This report formally transmits an updated briefing regarding the final results of our work in response to the provision in House Report 113-446 (see the enclosure). To conduct our work, we evaluated relevant Navy documentation, such as briefing slides and planning documents. We also interviewed Navy headquarters and fleet officials and obtained testimonial evidence regarding the process the Navy followed in developing its Phased Modernization Plan and the alternatives it considered. To the extent that documentation was available, we corroborated the testimonial evidence and discussed any conflicting evidence with Navy officials.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 20, 2015
- Accession Number
- ADA618174
Entities
People
- Amie Steele
- Erik Wilkins-mckee
- Jillena Roberts
- John H. Pendleton
- Matthew N. Jacobs
- Michael Ferren
- Michael Silver
- Michael Willems
- Pedro Almoguera
- Sharon Reid
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office