A time to savor the moment for those who spent the last decade and a half pushing back against what was then the unstoppable progress of the Transformationalist mindset. We may have finally closed a horrible chapter in how we try to build the fleet of tomorrow.
As we develop the next generation of ships and aircraft, we will need to be to keep a careful lookout for those who still have not learned the lessons of this century. Be careful of those who think that everything has to skip generations; those to whom money is rarely an object; those who at any mention of technology risk ruthlessly punish anyone who does not share their reckless disregard of centuries of best practices in advancing technology.
Providing another datapoint, Megan Eckstein reported something earlier this week that kept a smile on my face ever since.
Despite the congressman’s praise for those involved in overcoming the technical challenges that have arisen over the past several years of construction and testing, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson told USNI News before the ceremony that the Navy may avoid massive capability leaps like Ford in the future, to cut down on risk, cost and schedule.
“When we look back, the Ford took on some major goals for ourselves, some real reach goals in terms of technology. And so as we look forward to designing and building ships of the future, particularly given how quickly technology is advancing, maybe we take smaller steps,” he said.
“Instead of something that will deliver in 15 or 20 years, we do something that will deliver in five years, and then we do five years after that, and we sort of take smaller steps to arrive at the technology and capability curve and deliver with more confidence and on budget, on schedule.”
In our Midrats episode with Tal Manvel earlier this month, or even Jerry Hendrix’s testimony yesterday, you can hear the same things about the need to go back to decades – really centuries – of how you build warships and fleets. Regular, steady progress.
We should all re-embrace what Rear Admiral Meyer tried to get everyone to live by; “Build a Little, Test a Little, Learn a Lot.”
It worked well in the past. It should serve us just as well in the future.
