Undersea Surveillance: Navy Continues to Build Ships Designed for Soviet Threat
NSIAD-93-53
Published: Dec 03, 1992. Publicly Released: Dec 03, 1992.
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Highlights
GAO reviewed: (1) how the threat of enemy submarines changed after the collapse of the Soviet Union; and (2) what changes the Navy proposed regarding its Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System (SURTASS) program.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of the Navy | The Secretary of the Navy should postpone the Navy's decision on whether to build Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull (SWATH) ship T-AGOS-24 until the test results of low frequency active operational performance and SWATH operational design are fully evaluated. |
Congress transferred funds for the T-AGOS-24 ship to other Navy shipbuilding programs.
|
| Department of the Navy | The Secretary of the Navy should reevaluate plans to buy T-AGOS-25 through -27 SWATH ships--an estimated $525 million to construct--until the submarine threat is better defined, the system requirements to counter the threat are documented and approved, and the contribution of alternative submarine detection systems under development is analyzed. |
Navy shipbuilding plans show T-AGOS-24 and T-AGOS-25 to be built in future years. Since the end of the Cold War the Navy has redefined its mission and decided not to build the ships in question.
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Topics
Antisubmarine warfareDefense contingency planningElectronic surveillanceMilitary materielMilitary vesselsNuclear powered submarinesRadar equipmentMilitary forcesSubmarinesShips