Ronald O'Rourke

The Integrated Deepwater Systems (IDS) program, or Deepwater program for short, is a $24-billion, 25-year project to replace and modernise the Coast Guard's ageing fleet of deepwater-capable ships and aircraft. It is the largest and most complex acquisition effort in Coast Guard history, encompassing 91 new cutters, 124 new small surface craft, and 244 new or converted aeroplanes, helicopters, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The Deepwater program has received a total of about $4.4 billion through FY2007, including about $1.14 billion in FY2007. For FY2008, the Coast Guard requested $836.9 million in new appropriations and the rescission of $48.8 million in prior-year appropriations for the program, for a net total request of $788.1 million. This new book presents an in-depth analysis of the program and its significance.

China's rapidly developing military capabilities have forced US policy makers to reconsider their own military infrastructure. The primary concern of this book is to examine how China's military modernisation will be factored into decisions about US Navy programs. Several elements of China's military modernisation have potential implications for future required US Navy capabilities. These include theatre-range ballistic missiles (TBMs), land-attack cruise missiles (LACMs), anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCMs), surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), land-based aircraft, submarines, surface combatants, amphibious ships, naval mines, nuclear weapons, and possibly high-power microwave (HPM) devices. This book will examine how these elements and others will influence the future of the United States Navy.

On 30 November 2001, Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC) assumed control of Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), bringing to an apparent conclusion a five-year building process of consolidation in the ownership of the six private-sector shipyards that build the Navy's major ships. Following NOC's acquisition of the NNS, the six yards are now owned by two firms-NOC, which owns three of the yards, and General Dynamics Corporation (GD), which owns the other three. The consolidation of these shipyards under two parent firms raises several issues, including potential saving results from consolidation, the potential impact on competition in Navy shipbuilding, the potential impact of shipyard employment levels, and the potential impact of the shipyards and shipbuilding of the political process.