Can’t build fleet w/out technologies

The U.S. industrial base can’t build a 355-ship Navy fleet, now required by National Strategy (NDS), or afford to repair it unless the two entities can use advanced technologies to cut costs, James “Hondo” Geurts, assistant Navy secretary for research, development and acquisition, told attendees of Defense One Tech Conference in Washington, D.C., on June 26. “ … (I)f we can’t solve and fundamentally drive some of the costs out of these ships over the long term, both in construction and in repair, we’re not going to be able to achieve” the NDS. “… (T)here are so many technologies that could fundamentally shift the cost curves and the affordability curves in shipbuilding, those (industries) that can make the connection first will have great market opportunities.” (Defense One 06/26/18) Gulf Coast Note: Multiple Gulf Coast shipbuilding yards are involved in building the Navy’s fleet, including the largest shipbuilder in the country, Huntington Ingalls in Pascagoula, Miss.; Austal USA in Mobile, Ala. and Metal Shark of Jeanerette, La., to name but a few.