Expert questions Navy budget credibility

[GreatAmerican]

<p><a href=“http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/06/navy_budgetcredibility_070605/[/url]”>http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/06/navy_budgetcredibility_070605/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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The U.S. Navy’s plans for building new ships and aircraft are in jeopardy from potentially shrinking future defense budgets and significant underestimation of costs, a key analyst said Monday.</p>

<p>Risks in cost growth are greater for ships than aircraft, Eric Labs, a defense analyst with the Congressional Budget Office, told an audience at the Heritage Foundation in Washington…

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[GreatAmerican]

<p><a href=“http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/06/navy_winter_070606/[/url]”>http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/06/navy_winter_070606/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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Navy Secretary Donald Winter reacted to criticism of the shipbuilding budget Wednesday, saying the sea service is taking a hard look at its spending habits — but industry must keep up its end of the deal, too.</p>

<p>“We have some pressurization on the shipbuilding budget. That’s evidenced, if you will, in challenges we’ve seen on programs like the Littoral Combat Ship,” he said. “We’re putting a lot of pressure on contractors there, to live up to their commitments — what they have stated these ships will cost. And we’re engaged in a very significant reassessment of how we acquire our ships.”…

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