In a pair of congressional hearings about the Navy”s embattled littoral combat ship program this month, service program managers and oversight officials fielded tough questions about unexpected increases from ship unit costs — from $220 million to $470 million over the course of the program — and concerns about a planned block buy of upgraded frigates based on the same design.
But the panel also revealed new details about the cause and scope of a series of engineering casualties that have sidelined five of the eight active littoral combat ships in a little more than a year.