Navy Ready for Briefing on Small Surface Combatant, SecDef Not | Defense News | defensenews.com: After months of preparation, the US Navy was set Thursday morning to brief Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on its recommendations for a new Small Surface Combatant (SSC), and a delegation led by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus waited to make a personal presentation.
“Everything’s ready to go,” one source said of the Navy’s presentation.
But the SecDef never appeared. According to several Pentagon sources, he was delayed by a prior engagement, and the briefing is waiting to be re-scheduled — no easy task, given the hectic schedules of many of the principles.
The results of an SSC Task Force charged with coming up with a more heavily-armed warship to succeed the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) have been one of the more eagerly-awaited secrets in naval circles this year. Those in the know have been exceptionally tight-lipped, and those outside the loop hope that with the Hagel briefing completed — and the recommendations approved — the Navy will be forthcoming about where its small surface warship programs are headed.
Decisions on the SSC need to be made soon — in time, Hagel has directed, “to inform” the 2016 budget, due to be sent to Congress in February.
