The Murdoch Interview

I'm only now reading this interview with Rear Adm. James Murdoch, the new LCS PEO, that was posted up at Defense News earlier this week.

Q. What's your assessment of the LCS program right now?

A. Overall, the program is pretty healthy. The shipbuilding side has reached a place where we're into the contracts we want; we're in serial production with a stable design. Mission packages, we're getting in to the test phase. The challenge now is to put it all together.

Establishing a single PEO gives an end-to-end responsibility for the warfare capability to one guy. We'll have one organization covering three big themes: getting the shipbuilding in a stable march down the learning curve; testing the mission packages with all their components and then into the ship; and introducing it into the fleet.

I recognize the concerns that recently surfaced, but frankly these are all part and parcel of the challenges in building ships, and complex ships at that. Where there are issues, we're going to assess, analyze and fix 'em.

The LCS program is healthy? Really? Where is there evidence of that? Concerns "recently" surfaced? Seriously? Is "recently" a time measurement in minutes, days, months, or years?

I am optimistic on the Littoral Combat Ship, but it doesn't give me confidence when leaders say things that stand in direct opposite of all available evidence. What is the status of the modules? Where is a discussion regarding the LCS CONOP? Where is the article in Proceedings on LCS that inspires folks to believe the Navy is on the right course with the LCS investment, or is the Navy content to let CDR Patch dominate the narrative?

There is no confidence in the Littoral Combat Ship from the Navy community - especially the SWO community - so it is hard to find evidence that justifies Murdoch's happy times assessment.

Q. Compared with last year's public relations effort to show off LCS 1, there has been a dearth of news about the Independence (LCS 2). It's operating from Mayport, Fla., rather than the main fleet base at Norfolk. It has yet to make a significant cruise. There is almost no word of its activities, few photos are released, and Austal USA, unlike Lockheed Martin and LCS 1, has become very reluctant to talk about the ship. The only news that's out there is about corrosion problems. Is LCS 2 broken?

A. There's nothing wrong with LCS 2. Fair observations, I wouldn't dispute you. You could certainly draw the conclusion that you haven't heard about the ship, then, gosh, is there something wrong with it? That's why I'm here. I believe the fleet introduction of these ships is very important. When it comes to these ships, nobody cares like I care.

I guess I agree with you. LCS, in the press, has kind of gone sinker, and maybe we shouldn't have let that happen.

LCS 2 has been doing things. Vice Adm. Richard Hunt, commander of Naval Surface Forces, was on board last month. He watched them maneuver an unmanned vehicle around the mission bay, put it in the twin-boomed extensible crane, launch it from the ship. They operated it, drove it back into the recovery system, picked it up and brought it back aboard the ship. It was the first underway day he had in his new job, on the Independence. So why aren't we getting that message to you? I don't know.

I don't know either, but I suspect it is because nobody believes there is value in developing communication strategies that includes articulating objectives and the steps of the process towards meeting objectives. Whether operational or in Navy programs, the only place we ever see commitment to communication strategies is when executing a soft power mission. Again, this goes back to the absence of STRATCOM in doctrine at the operational level in OPNAV, and the absence of STRATCOM at the program level that for the Navy would serve as communication regarding ROI for the taxpayer.

What is the status of Fort Worth? When should we expect Independence to make her first deployment? What changes are going into Freedom during her availability? Where is the next deployment taking Freedom? If Murdoch agrees with Chris Cavas, he and OPNAV need to start setting expectations for the evolution of LCS as both a program and an operational asset.