Huntington ingalls proposes ways to cut ship costs.

• Position: From the Natonal Defense Blog

* If the Navy wants to save money on future ships, it should take a lesson from the Coast Guard, which has been successful at "managing its appetite for change," the outgoing head of Ingalls Shipbuilding said

Though it has a significantly smaller budget than the Navy, the Coast Guard has recognized the effectiveness of its national security cutters in a number of roles.

The service has therefore done little to alter the NSC's design from ship to ship, allowing Ingalls to build them with increasing efficiency and for less money, company president Irwin Edenzon said. "Change is the enemy of low cost," Edenzon said. "The Coast Guard has done an outstanding job of managing its appetite for change. So we have been able to get...