I am currently doing a podcast series on what appears to be a droll subject but it is critical to getting big projects right. If you can’t articulate and create a rational and effective Concept of Operations, you will fail.
Th Navy never disappoints in failure lately. They are trying to create a sterling track record of abysmal failure in ship design since the last success of the Arleigh Burke class, which was the last working ship the Navy completed to standard.
The US Navy is now 36 months behind schedule and building a ship without designs completed. The Little Crappy Ship psychosis is still haunting the halls of the Pentagon.
Over at least 2 decades, the Navy’s Constellation class Guided Missile Frigate program plans to acquire and deliver up to 20 frigates—multi-mission, small surface combatant warships—at a combined cost of over $22 billion. To reduce technical risk, the Navy and its shipbuilder modified an existing design to incorporate Navy specifications and weapon systems. However, the Navy’s decision to begin construction before the design was complete is inconsistent with leading ship design practices and jeopardized this approach. Further, design instability has caused weight growth. The figure shows the frigate’s 3D design—a component of design stability—as incomplete over 1 year after construction began.
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Delays in completing the ship design have created mounting construction delays. The Navy acknowledges that the April 2026 delivery date, set in the contract at award, is unachievable. The lead frigate is forecasted to be delivered 36 months later than initially planned. The program office tracks and reports design progress, but its design stability metric hinges largely on the quantity—rather than quality—of completed design documents. This limits insight into whether the program’s schedule is achievable. If the Navy begins construction on the second frigate without improving this metric, it risks repeating the same errors that resulted in construction disruptions and delays with the lead frigate.
https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-24-106546
