Lawmakers Offer A Way Out of US Navy Minehunting Mess: Reacting to a new Pentagon assessment that paints a dismal picture of the US Navy’s efforts to field a new seagoing mine countermeasures system, two powerful lawmakers could be clearing a new path through for a way ahead.
“The Navy should consider all available alternatives,” to address the problems, Sens. John McCain, R-Arizona, and Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island – chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the Senate Armed Services Committee – wrote Monday in a letter to Navy and Pentagon leaders.
“Too much is at stake to accept the status quo and permit systems with long documented cost, schedule, performance and reliability shortfalls to get a free pass into the fleet and further production,” the senators wrote to Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Adm. Jon Greenert, the outgoing chief of naval operations.
