Free Republic

The U.S. Navy’s plan to award lucrative shallow-water warship contracts to shipyards in both Mobile and Wisconsin cleared an important hurdle Thursday, military analysts said, when U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor introduced legislation to approve the purchases. Analysts said the bill, which has been sent to the House Armed Services Committee, gives the dual-buy plan a clearer path to congressional approval before the Dec. 14 deadline imposed by the Navy. If Congress signs off, Mobile’s Austal USA and a team led by Lockheed Martin Corp. will each get contracts to build 10 littoral combat ships, estimated to be worth about $5...

With Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) construction costs under greater control, the Navy is again thinking about splitting the fleet purchase between the contractor teams. “The Navy wants to split its buy of Littoral Combat Ships between a steel monohull developed by Lockheed Martin and the Marinette shipyard, and an aluminum trimaran developed by the Austal shipbuilding company of Australia,” said Lexington Institute defense analyst Loren Thompson. The Navy had considered splitting up the business for some of the first ships before, but higher costs forced it to reconsider those plans. “This acquisition strategy returns the Navy to where it was...

The U.S. Navy has made a decision on which of two competing designs for its "Littoral Combat Ship" (LCS) will enter mass production. The navy surprised everyone by choosing both designs, and requesting that the fifty or so LCS ships be split between the two very different looking ships. It was only recently, after over a decade of development, construction and delays, that both versions of the LCS entered service. Both were worked hard, to determine which model should become the standard design. Both ships delivered impressive performance. But the navy also believes that having two suppliers, even with different...

Woah, so the U.S. Navy wants to buy both classes of Littoral Combat Ship in equal numbers for a total of 20 ships, double the planned by of 10 Hulls, according to my former colleague Chris Cavas’ latest piece over at Defense News. The Navy, convinced that the competition has driven down the cost for the ships, is asking Congress for permission to award each team contracts for 10 ships, for a total of 20 new LCS hulls. “We’re engaging with key committee members, their staff and industry on whether awarding a 10-ship block buy to each team merits congressional...

On Saturday, the US Navy commissioned its second Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) in Alabama. After accepting Lockheed Martin’s LCS design in November 2008, the US Navy now welcomed the second warship of this future class of vessels. This time it was the 379-feet (115.5 metre) aluminium, three-hulled ‘Independence’ (LCS-2), designed and built by Lockheed’s competitors, General Dynamics Corporation and Austal, in the race for the multi-billion dollar follow-up orders. Following the successful completion of builder's trials on 21 October 2009 and acceptance trials on 19 November 2009, the Independence now joins the service to evaluate which of the two designs...