Navy Mine Warfare: Budget Realignment Can Help Improve Countermine Capabilities
NSIAD-96-104
Published: Mar 13, 1996. Publicly Released: Mar 13, 1996.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Navy's efforts to improve its ability to conduct effective sea mine countermeasures (MCM) in two simultaneous major regional conflicts, focusing on the: (1) status of the Navy's research and development projects; (2) readiness of the Navy's present MCM equipment; and (3) match between the Navy's planned and on-hand MCM equipment and its MCM requirements.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of the Navy | To improve the Navy's readiness to conduct mine countermeasures, the Secretary of the Navy should: (1) develop a long-range plan to identify the gaps and limitations in the Navy's MCM capabilities; (2) establish priorities among the competing projects and programs, including those in research and development; and (3) sustain the development and procurement of the most critical systems. The Secretary of the Navy should direct particular attention to those systems required to improve the Navy's shallow-water MCM capabilities. |
The Navy has developed a proposed concept of operations for mine countermeasures operations. In addition, the Navy has developed an architecture to support that concept to address the systems approach recommended by the report. This ongoing system approach to mine countermeasures will result in the assurance of proper orientation of all mine warfare components within the overall operational mine warfare concept of operations.
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| Department of the Navy | The Secretary of the Navy should improve the readiness of oceangoing MCM ships. |
The Navy has initiated various actions that have significantly improved system reliability. In addition, improvements are being incorporated into newer ships as they are being built to improve their reliability and supportability, and a revised maintenance philosophy is also enhancing operational availability.
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| Department of the Navy | If the Navy finds that the funds necessary to sustain critical research and development and improve the readiness of oceangoing MCM ships are not available, the Navy should consider using funds that otherwise would be used to operate and maintain some of the coastal mine hunter ships. |
The Navy acknowledged that cost savings could be achieved by reducing the planned inventory of coastal mine hunter ships. However, DOD management did not concur with this finding and is not reducing its inventory of coastal mine hunter ships.
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Weapons systemsCombat readinessCommand and control systemsDefense capabilitiesEquipment maintenanceMilitary cost controlMilitary research and developmentMilitary vesselsNaval procurementNaval warfare