“There are very few commercial shipbuilding in American shipyards today,” the expert said.
The Congressional Subcommittee on the Seapower and Projection Force held a hearing on March 11th, hearing that the US could learn from Japan’s plans to produce one submarine a year.
O’Rourke noted that Japan and South Korea are known for their “best practices” in shipbuilding by global standards.
He said Japan is exemplary in skill development and raw material management, and can stabilize procurement despite changing scale of force. According to O’Rourke, one of the keys manages the “backend” by looking at the “end of the fleet” as opposed to what he calls “previous procurement tin-cooling.”
Related Stories
“Japan aims to maintain a stable submarine production rate for one boat a year. When Japan planned to maintain the power of 18 submarines, it did so at a construction rate of one year per year, by serving submarines up to the age of 18.”
“When Japan increased its submarine-level target to 22 boats, it maintained its annual construction rate per year and began to maintain submarines around age 22. If Japan decides to increase its submarine fleet to 30 more boats, it will maintain its one-year build rate and maintain boats up to age 30.”
O’Rourke pointed out that South Korea and Japan are competing with China. This, according to experts, produces 40-50% of the world’s ships.
O’Rourke’s comments on Japan and South Korea were echoed by Eric Labos, senior analyst for navy and weapons at the Congressional Budget Office.
“Given the full capacity of shipbuilding yards today, it’s worth considering seeing the issue of our allies being able to supply some of these types of ships,” he told the panel.
“Trading allies and partners into a shipbuilding portfolio, whether domestically or overseas, has all sorts of advantages and disadvantages.”
The lab replied, “There are very few commercial shipbuildings held at American shipyards today.”
“There are several commercial shipbuildings that arise. It seems like they are mainly Jones Act ships, building ships for unified state trade between US ports and another US port,” he added.
