Online Sponsor: March 31, 2003
Advanced SEAL Delivery System By JASON SHERMAN, DEFENSE NEWS MEDIA GROUP
The ASDS is a mini-submarine being developed to piggyback on larger submarines and ferry equipment and Special Forces to land. One of the U.S. Special Operations Command’s top investments, the ASDS program is scheduled in May to begin operational evaluation with the U.S.S. Greenville in waters off Hawaii. If the ASDS passes muster in field test conducted by warfighters who aim to determine the effectiveness of the boat for use in combat, the Navy wants to deploy it immediately. “It has to be delivered, but that’s our stretch goal,” said Rear Adm. Paul F. Sullivan, director of submarine warfare in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, on Monday. “Will the schedule support that? We’ll have to wait and see.” Sullivan’s remarks came during the first day of Defense News Media Group’s two-day conference here, Strike Warfare Precision Attack: Compressing the ‘Flash-to-Bang’ Cycle. The expeditionary strike group is a new naval organization that blends elements of a carrier battle group with a Marine amphibious ready group, creating a force that can insert Marines into hostile territory by air or sea while striking targets far inland and in the air. The battery-powered, 65-foot long ASDS, build by Northrop Grumman, has suffered numerous schedule delays and cost overruns. A March 31 General Accounting Office report, “Advanced SEAL Delivery System Program Needs Increased Oversight,” charges the program is still having difficulty making credible cost and schedule predictions. The report, delivered to Sen. John Warner, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called for the Pentagon to ensure that the plan for operational evaluation is sufficient in scope. “While progress has been made in addressing technical difficulties with the first boat, some problems must yet be solved and other capabilities demonstrated before the ASDS can meet all of its key performance requirements,” the GAO said in its report. A Northrop Grumman spokesperson declined to comment on the report. While the Defense Department concurred with some of the report’s findings, it says the ASDS program’s costs and schedule have stabilized and that U.S. Special Operations Command believes the mini-sub “provides significant operational utility.” Sullivan, speaking to an industry and military audience, didn’t discuss the GAO report but argued the same point. “This is a pretty significant deal,” said Sullivan. “For the first time we’ll be able to deliver SEALs dry, not wet in their wetsuits. This will be a new tool in our toolbox as a nation for the global war on terrorism.” Return to news coverage |
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Maj. Gen. John L "Jack" Hudson |
