Navy Torpedo Programs: MK-48 ADCAP Upgrades not Adequately Justified

摘要

The proposed $249 million upgrade to the ADCAP propulsion system is not needed.The Navy justifies this upgrade as improving the ADCAP'5 performance against diesel submarines operating in littoral or shallow water by reducing the range at which an adversary is alerted to an attack and the time available for that adversary to counterfire, thereby reducing the launching submarine's vulnerability. However, because of the short ranges at which diesel submarines are likely to be detected in littoral or shallow water, the technological improvement to be contributed by the propulsion upgrade-that is, torpedo quieting-will neither improve the performance of the ADCAP nor reduce the vulnerability of the launching submarine to enemy attack. Moreover, the Commander, Operational Test and Evaluation Force (oPTEvFoR), already considers the current ADCAP operationally suitable and effective in shallow water, and the Navy did not establish a requirement to improve the ADCAP'5 propulsion system for use in open ocean, deep water in its operational requirements document for the upgrade. Approval for low-rate initial production for the guidance and control upgrade would be ill-advised at this time. The Navy's proposed acquisition schedule was developed to piggyback on the installation of the propulsion upgrade. Installing the new guidance and control unit will do nothing more to counter the existing threat than the current units until the new software is developed and installed. Since the software necessary to take advantage of the upgraded guidance and control hardware will not be ready until mid-1995, upgrade acquisition would be better scheduled to coincide with the software development schedule. As currently planned, the Navy could buy as many as 529 units at a cost of $177 nation before the new software will be available.