Experts said the Kennedy is not in danger of creating a Nunn-McCurdy breach that could jeopardize the program. Nevertheless, a cost overrun could still be problematic, noted Bryan Clark, a naval analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.
“The Navy would have to go back to Congress and get … relief on the cost caps so they could appropriate additional money for the program,” he said. “Congress could slow down the program by saying, ‘You need to get us a better plan for controlling costs on the Kennedy before we come back and give you relief.’”…
Clark said: “I would think they would be able to get the cost down pretty significantly by CVN 80 and 81. The cost caps are a good measure to continue to pressure those improvements, and it would seem reasonable to expect that HII and the Navy can get the cost down to the $12 billion point.”