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Retrofitted sub ready, but SEAL mini may not be
By William Cole
The USS Ohio, a 560-foot former ballistic missile submarine converted to carry SEALs and Tomahawk cruise missiles, was a sight to see when the media was allowed on board last month in Pearl Harbor.
A future visit by the USS Michigan, another of the converted "boomers," should be even more impressive.
The Michigan is expected to test out the Advanced SEAL Delivery System, a mini sub for commandos that rides piggyback on the big host sub.
Trident ballistic missiles were removed from the Ohio, Michigan, Georgia and Florida, and the subs are being retrofitted to carry up to 154 Tomahawks and more than 100 commandos.
The pairing of the Advanced SEAL Delivery System, or ASDS, with the Michigan, expected in 2008, will be a high-tech special ops match-up, but the future of the ASDS remains uncertain.
The ASDS, which arrived at Pearl Harbor in 2000, was heralded as leap-ahead technology that would deliver SEALs dry and rested rather than shivering and cold from the existing SEAL delivery vehicle, a cramped open-water design requiring scuba tanks.
But there remains only one ASDS in the world, and the Northrop Grumman effort has spiraled to more than $885 million, according to a May U.S. Government Accountability Office report. The 65-foot mini sub originally was expected to cost about $80 million.
There have been battery, noise and propulsion problems with the sub, one of U.S. Special Operations Command's biggest investments.
GAO also notes contract oversight issues. A 2005 delivery order contracted for a replacement hydraulic reservoir for $1 million. The contractor said it needed $444,000 extra, the Navy reduced the scope of the work, and reauthorized the job at $937,000, GAO said.
Two days later, the contractor said the cost for the job had almost doubled to more than $1.85 million, according to GAO, and as of December of 2006, a further modification to the order increased the estimate to $2.8 million.
The ASDS program has invested more than $26 million since 2000 to design, develop and integrate a new lithium-ion battery, the federal agency found, and the Navy has invested more than $1.5 million to redesign the first ASDS propeller.
In April of 2006, the Defense Department canceled plans for follow-on ASDS boats and directed the Navy and Special Operations Command to establish an ASDS-1 improvement program.
In February and March, following 15 improvements, nine under-way operations were conducted off O'ahu for a total of 113 operating hours, with no failures. Follow-on operational testing is scheduled for the second half of fiscal 2008.
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By William Cole
The USS Ohio, a 560-foot former ballistic missile submarine converted to carry SEALs and Tomahawk cruise missiles, was a sight to see when the media was allowed on board last month in Pearl Harbor.
A future visit by the USS Michigan, another of the converted "boomers," should be even more impressive.
The Michigan is expected to test out the Advanced SEAL Delivery System, a mini sub for commandos that rides piggyback on the big host sub.
Trident ballistic missiles were removed from the Ohio, Michigan, Georgia and Florida, and the subs are being retrofitted to carry up to 154 Tomahawks and more than 100 commandos.
The pairing of the Advanced SEAL Delivery System, or ASDS, with the Michigan, expected in 2008, will be a high-tech special ops match-up, but the future of the ASDS remains uncertain.
The ASDS, which arrived at Pearl Harbor in 2000, was heralded as leap-ahead technology that would deliver SEALs dry and rested rather than shivering and cold from the existing SEAL delivery vehicle, a cramped open-water design requiring scuba tanks.
But there remains only one ASDS in the world, and the Northrop Grumman effort has spiraled to more than $885 million, according to a May U.S. Government Accountability Office report. The 65-foot mini sub originally was expected to cost about $80 million.
There have been battery, noise and propulsion problems with the sub, one of U.S. Special Operations Command's biggest investments.
GAO also notes contract oversight issues. A 2005 delivery order contracted for a replacement hydraulic reservoir for $1 million. The contractor said it needed $444,000 extra, the Navy reduced the scope of the work, and reauthorized the job at $937,000, GAO said.
Two days later, the contractor said the cost for the job had almost doubled to more than $1.85 million, according to GAO, and as of December of 2006, a further modification to the order increased the estimate to $2.8 million.
The ASDS program has invested more than $26 million since 2000 to design, develop and integrate a new lithium-ion battery, the federal agency found, and the Navy has invested more than $1.5 million to redesign the first ASDS propeller.
In April of 2006, the Defense Department canceled plans for follow-on ASDS boats and directed the Navy and Special Operations Command to establish an ASDS-1 improvement program.
In February and March, following 15 improvements, nine under-way operations were conducted off O'ahu for a total of 113 operating hours, with no failures. Follow-on operational testing is scheduled for the second half of fiscal 2008.
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