Navy Ship Propulsion

Viability of New Engine Program in Question Gao ID: NSIAD-96-107 June 7, 1996

Although the Navy has spent more than four years and nearly $225 million in a joint venture with the British and French to develop a new gas turbine ship propulsion system, the effort has encountered serious problems in development. Navy officials have raised many questions about the new engine, including the practicality of using it in the DDG-51 destroyer. They also have concerns about whether the new engine will provide a viable and timely return on the large investment to develop it. GAO urges the Pentagon to reassess the need for this program. As the Navy restructures the engine development program, it must decide how and if it will use the $5.4 million test facility that it built in Philadelphia. The Navy now plans to conduct almost all of its engine testing at a test site in the United Kingdom. The Navy must also decide whether to test the engine at sea in a pilot ship. The cost to do so is estimated as high as $12.5 million.

GAO found that: (1) some Navy officials are questioning the economic viability of the ICR engine program and have raised concerns over placing ICR engines on naval destroyers, since most destroyers are equipped with reliable propulsion systems; (2) engine development costs pose a significant economic investment; (3) some officials believe the engine should not be used on naval destroyers given the small number of new U.S. destroyers involved, adequacy of current destroyer engines, high cost of incorporating the engine, uncertainty of future integration plans, and current state of ICR development; (4) the Navy has not recovered from initial recuperator failure that resulted from design, manufacturing, and quality assurance problems; (5) a contractor is instituting a recovery plan to redesign future recuperators, but the plan is not allowing sufficient time to evaluate test data prior to ordering production ICR engines; (6) the Navy has interrupted work on redesigning future recuperators because of funding reductions, contractor quality control problems, manufacturing problems, and delivery delays; and (7) the Navy needs to decide how and when it will use the Philadelphia ICR test facility and if it will test the ICR engine at sea.

Recommendations

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