Congress Spends $400 Million On Ship The Navy Doesn’t Want

The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) has spent its first eight years in the Navy greeted by apprehension and disapproval. Now, the U.S. Congress is sending a defense appropriations bill to the Senate that includes $475 million for a new LCS that neither President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, or the Navy itself wants.

“The ship is not reliable,” the Pentagon’s report on the LCS released in January claims, reports Politico. The fleet of LCS ships have experienced cracked hulls, engine failures, unexpected rusting, software malfunctions, weapons glitches, and other vulnerabilities in their time in service.

“Congress wants to pass out the cash and look like they’re being strong on defense,” said Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense and a former Coast Guard officer.

But Republican Rep. Bradley Byrne of Alabama, whose congressional district is home to one of LCS’ shipbuilders, defended the bill.

“Congress should not allow a Secretary of Defense with less than a year left in office to decide the fate of a critical Navy program like the LCS,” Byrne wrote in an April statement.

Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, whose former aide is now a lobbyist with one of the contractors building the LCS, has fought hard for the continued production of the ship in the face of military resistance.

“The LCS is critical to our Navy’s ability to respond to current and future threats across the world,” Shelby wrote in a statement in December 2015. “I will fight tooth and nail against this misguided attempt to needlessly undermine the security of our nation and the American people.”

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Austal, an Australian shipbuilder involved in the production of the LCS, is reporting an expected earnings loss of $116 to $121 million from write-downs in the project.

But the company is optimistic that production of the LCS will continue.

“We continue to see profitability in the LCS program,” the company reported. “That will enhance as new vessels are added to the program. … We are expecting 13 additional vessels. Those vessels will be priced at a revised level to that which we’ve seen previously.”

Sources: Politico, Sydney Morning Herald / Photo credit: Sydney Morning Herald