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ASDS Mini-Sub Program Sinks, As Replacement Rises

Related Stories: Americas - USA, Britain/U.K., Budgets, Coastal & Littoral, FOCUS Articles, Forces - Special Ops, Issues - Political, New Systems Tech, Northrop-Grumman, Project Failures, R&D - Contracted, Submarines

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In a program that began with great promise but soon spiraled out of control, Northrop Grumman has been building ASDS “Advanced SEAL delivery System” mini-subs as successors to the previous SDV (SEAL/Swimmer Delivery Vehicle) carried on US Benjamin Franklin class (SSBN-640) attack submarines.

In the end, however, technical, reliability, and 400% cost overrun issues proved insuperable. The ASDS program was canceled for all intents and purposes on April 6/06, but the existing boat was retained and improvements attempted. That has been cut short with the destruction of ASDS-1, and a less ambitious replacement program is beginning to take shape…

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  • Events chronology including its technical, reliability, and 400% cost overruns, temporary cancellation, and final destruction
  • The 2007 GAO report on the ASDS program: "...the U.S. Special Operations Command has continued to invest millions of dollars to fix existing problems and address new ones in an attempt to make the boat operational."
  • The ASDS' replacement SWCS/JMMS program
  • Quick Links to the library of ongoing DII coverage including: "USA Spending $7.1M to Upgrade SEAL Delivery Vehicles, "SSGN ëTactical Trident' Subs: Special Forces and Super Strike Military Transformation," "It's a Boat, It's a Sub, It'sÖ..," "ASDS Mini-Sub Program Goes to Davey Jones' Locker," and "$9.5M Engineering Services Contract Includes ASDS Work"
  • Links to related articles and resources including the concept of mini-sub use in the drug trade
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