Feature 1 | LOGISTICS VESSELS
Construction contract anticipated for Mobile Landing Platform
As of early February, General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard in San Diego was expecting a contract from the US Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) to build the first of a planned three Mobile Landing Platform (MLP) float-on/ float-off (Flo-Flo) vessels for the US Navy.
D
escribed as a ‘sea base surface interface hub’, the MLP is an at-sea transfer station that will
enable cargo to be transferred from Large, Medium-Speed Prepositioning ships (LMSRs) to landing craft ‘connectors’, providing the US military with the ability to undertake large-scale logistics movements from sea to shore independent of port infrastructures. Te first of class is scheduled for delivery in 2013. NAVSEA originally awarded General
• two surface interface points for loading, launching and recovering two Landing
• capacity for up to six LCACs;
Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) assault hovercraſt near-simultaneously;
• a self-deploying Vehicle Transfer System (VTS);
• a large container handling crane;
• berthing to accommodate a brigade- size force during the employment and
reconstitution phases of the operation; • a speed of approximately 20kts; and
• a range of approximately 9000nm. Systems Design 2 was completed
in June 2010. However, as a result of programme changes introduced as part of the US Fiscal Year 2011 (FY11) defence budget, the seabase enablers acquisition programme altered course. Substantial budget reductions forced
the US Navy to depart from its original Maritime Prepositioning Force (Future) vision and look instead to establish three
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Dynamics NASSCO a fixed-price US$3.5 million Systems Design 1 contract in February 2009, with an option for Systems Design 2 (which ran sequentially from early 2010). Under this Systems Design phase, the shipyard was tasked to develop a solution matched to the US Navy’s top-level requirement, including:
An at-sea exercise is used to demonstrate the transfer of vehicles from a mobile landing platform and a large medium-speed roll-on/roll-off vessel
Maritime Prepositioning Squadrons with enhanced seabasing capabilities, delivering improved utility across the full range of military operations. As a result, the US Navy in July 2009
deferred the original MLP concept, design and procurement.
Instead, in August
2009 it began development of options for a near-term reduced cost/capability MLP platform, the full programme being de-scoped from an estimated procurement cost of US$3.5 billion to US$1.5 billion. Te resultant solution marries a Flo-Flo
platform (derived from an existing crude carrier design) with a so-called Core Capability Set of topside equipment and fittings to be completed separately. In August 2010, NAVSEA awarded
General Dynamics NASSCO a US$115 million advanced design and long lead time material contract. General Dynamics
NASSCO has based its design solution on the existing Alaska class commercial tanker baseline; four of these vessels have previously been built for BP, giving both the shipyard and the navy a ‘stable’ design baseline from which to address specific MLP requirements. Te resulting MLP design is a 837ſt long/164ſt beam Flo-Flo platform. Classed to ABS standards, it will have a speed of 15kts, with an operating range of 9500nm. NASSCO’s engineering approach has
purposely adopted proven technology and re-used existing design features so as to minimise development risk. For example, the basic diesel-electric propulsion technology is common with the Lewis and Clarke class T-AKE auxiliary replenishment vessel, while the ballast system shares a common design with the LMSR.
Warship Technology March 2011
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