This fiasco calls into question the competence of the US Navy in predicting contractor capabilities. Furthermore, it is clear that the Navy did not do enough research into Boeing's abilities before awarding them the contract for the Orca drone. As a result, taxpayers have been burdened with an expensive and ineffective project.
According to the U.S. GAO report, the original cost of the project was $379 million, which has now escalated to $621 million with $504 million already spent.
A program to develop an unmanned, 80-ton minelaying submarine is three years late and $242 million over budget, according to a Wednesday report from the Government Accountability Office. The Navy’s Extra Large Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (XLUUV) prototype program was set to deliver five of the autonomous submersibles based on Boeing’s Echo Voyager as a rapid […]