Meh, if the ship didn't suck why'd the newest one lose all power and have to be towed into port 3 weeks after it was put to sea.
If the latest Rhino or Poseidon that rolled off the line shit the bed mid flight because of a bad set of bearings, I don't think we would be saying they sucked collectively. LCS has had a pretty good run operationally with no major engineering faults, (not anymore than other surface combatants at least). I'm not saying these things are the best thing since sliced bread, but its hard to say that they suck due to the fact one broke down. Ships breakdown, it happens.
It was a ploy by the MSC to show how valuable Ocean going tugs are.
So, what's your point? Mission accomplished if you ask me.
They're tough conversations...but they're conversations Congress can have if we (Big Navy) can determine and articulate how the overall strategy drives our resourcing decisions.
They talk about how taxpayer money is wasted by contractors and projects everyday, they're aware. Politicians in the long run are just talk. Unfortunately many would not have the funds to run for office again if they started to actually regulate spending or argue for reasonably priced contracts. If you saw how some of the corporations have a chokehold on defense contracts, you would puke. If you saw how much it cost to have a contractor pull out a valve on a firemain on a surface combatant and replace it, you would want to hang yourself.
One of the issues is how much gets dumped into these projects once they started them. This is how defense contracting work: It's like owning a Ducati, its expensive at first but you think its awesome to have it so its worth the price tag, then you realize there are problems, so you throw money at it to fix it, then you need an oil change so you write a check for the price of a down payment on a small house. The next thing you know, you're living in a tent with your bike, but hey, you've got the Ducati. Lastly you throw the bike in the dumpster and take out a loan because BMW.