A panel of military and legislative leaders and an analyst have said the U.S. Navy needs to control long-term costs for maintaining and modernizing weapon systems as the service adopts new acquisition processes, USNI News reported Friday.
Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Center of Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, noted during a recent Defense News conference that the Navy should form a plan for when it needs to sustain or replace its assets.
He added that maintenance costs for ships or aircraft will continue to increase after 15 to 20 years of service.
Vice Adm. William Merz, deputy chief of naval operations for warfare systems, also said that it is difficult to maintain big assets such as ships, planes and weapons unless they can be modified during their service life.
Some of the new procurement vehicles the Navy is leveraging to develop or field new equipment include a mid-tier acquisition authority, an Accelerated Acquisition Board and rapid prototyping, according to Allison Stiller, deputy assistant secretary for the Navy for research, development and acquisition.
“All of these activities are intended to increase our agility and improve affordability,†Stiller added.