Sal - I have another commitment and will miss the live session, but I have a question that has been bugging me and that Captain McGrath might comment on. I see that Admiral Moton is moving to PEO CV's after PEO for the Constellation. Before Constellation he ran the Burke restart and the LCS mission module program. Kudos for the Burke restart, but the LCS mission modules and Constellation programs have been long-running disasters with red flags and, based on my experience, apparent program management malpractice and anti-patterns (e.g. change out-of-control that is the opposite of "best practices") that no organization I worked for would have tolerated. Yet Admirals Downey and Moton have continued to receive awards and promotions. Adm Moton is clearly a very smart guy, so two questions: 1) what's the other side of the story that excuses Adm Moton from being held accountable for the failures under his leadership; and 2) If the responsible leaders can't or shouldn't be held accountable, is there a systemic fix?
I hope Bryan does successfully retire. I am RETIRED . . . and yet . . . the brain will not let it go, and my Aegis background screams loudly in my brain every day as I watch our forces succeed in some cases, and do stupid things from time to time . . . simply because they were not on their toes, took things for granted, and DID KNOW THEIR SYSTEMS, their redundancies, and ability to function with multiple overlapping capabilities in depth. Then there are those few trying to make everything more efficient by deleting, truncating, and eliminating systems NOT FULLY UNDERSTANDING what they are doing and the intense. lasting, detrimental effects it will have when the box is gone, or system is changed/truncated.
Those with expertise granted by the Creator have a responsibility to observe, share, correct when necessary, but always KEEP THE FAITH with the FORCE.
CVNs - Build new strategy to keep the interval down. Drop RCOH until we get out new builds back up to speed. Block buy 3 every 8 years, launch every 32 months. Stabilize on 10 newer hulls, then you can grow by restoring RCOH if you need to.
We need a cheaper, build back margins, Flight IV Burke that Fincantieri and or Austal can build, but we are way late to start that. Make the risk to swapping to DDGX/CGX easier knowing we are getting a build rate up on second tier surface combatants. Our real choices are the Saudi ships or Taiwan's.
We really need to talk about if not LSM, then what. I would rather see a small LSD to get our ability to get to 38 larger ships more real. LSMs are never going to get turned around and moved a world away for a time sensitive emergency. Then focus on better well deck connectors that can be used for intra-theater transport. I keep messing with French EDA-S and MSVL BMT Caimen hulls. I end up wanting a Caimen that can replace the LCU role and then a U.S. design EDA-S (Aluminum with more power).
Flooding the zone. We can't even do that with smaller patrol boats manned or unmanned. We need to try anyway, but we also need shooter USVs in the 11m RHIB range. Plus we can move them all over the place with our existing logistics.
Loved both of Bryan's navy command books. Wish that I could have served on his ship when he was in command.
Watching Victory at Sea today!
Sal - I have another commitment and will miss the live session, but I have a question that has been bugging me and that Captain McGrath might comment on. I see that Admiral Moton is moving to PEO CV's after PEO for the Constellation. Before Constellation he ran the Burke restart and the LCS mission module program. Kudos for the Burke restart, but the LCS mission modules and Constellation programs have been long-running disasters with red flags and, based on my experience, apparent program management malpractice and anti-patterns (e.g. change out-of-control that is the opposite of "best practices") that no organization I worked for would have tolerated. Yet Admirals Downey and Moton have continued to receive awards and promotions. Adm Moton is clearly a very smart guy, so two questions: 1) what's the other side of the story that excuses Adm Moton from being held accountable for the failures under his leadership; and 2) If the responsible leaders can't or shouldn't be held accountable, is there a systemic fix?
Cheers!
-Mark
I hope Bryan does successfully retire. I am RETIRED . . . and yet . . . the brain will not let it go, and my Aegis background screams loudly in my brain every day as I watch our forces succeed in some cases, and do stupid things from time to time . . . simply because they were not on their toes, took things for granted, and DID KNOW THEIR SYSTEMS, their redundancies, and ability to function with multiple overlapping capabilities in depth. Then there are those few trying to make everything more efficient by deleting, truncating, and eliminating systems NOT FULLY UNDERSTANDING what they are doing and the intense. lasting, detrimental effects it will have when the box is gone, or system is changed/truncated.
Those with expertise granted by the Creator have a responsibility to observe, share, correct when necessary, but always KEEP THE FAITH with the FORCE.
CVNs - Build new strategy to keep the interval down. Drop RCOH until we get out new builds back up to speed. Block buy 3 every 8 years, launch every 32 months. Stabilize on 10 newer hulls, then you can grow by restoring RCOH if you need to.
We need a cheaper, build back margins, Flight IV Burke that Fincantieri and or Austal can build, but we are way late to start that. Make the risk to swapping to DDGX/CGX easier knowing we are getting a build rate up on second tier surface combatants. Our real choices are the Saudi ships or Taiwan's.
We really need to talk about if not LSM, then what. I would rather see a small LSD to get our ability to get to 38 larger ships more real. LSMs are never going to get turned around and moved a world away for a time sensitive emergency. Then focus on better well deck connectors that can be used for intra-theater transport. I keep messing with French EDA-S and MSVL BMT Caimen hulls. I end up wanting a Caimen that can replace the LCU role and then a U.S. design EDA-S (Aluminum with more power).
Flooding the zone. We can't even do that with smaller patrol boats manned or unmanned. We need to try anyway, but we also need shooter USVs in the 11m RHIB range. Plus we can move them all over the place with our existing logistics.