Navy Defends Littoral Ship Against Watchdog’s Criticism

The Navy is defending its plan for building Littoral Combat Ships, disputing a pending Government Accountability Office recommendation to slow construction for further testing.

The Navy’s newest combat vessel will be under scrutiny at a U.S. House hearing today, where the GAO is set to present a report on the LCS. A draft report by Congress’s nonpartisan investigative arm earlier this year said the Navy is risking as much as $40 billion by purchasing the ships faster than it can demonstrate their “militarily useful capability.”

The LCS program has generated a growing list of questions about the ships’ designs, firepower, defenses and survivability at a time when the Pentagon faces as much as $500 billion in additional budget cuts over the next nine years.

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