Feature 3 | US NAVY
Newbuild programmes move ahead but question marks remain
For the US Navy the past few months have been a period of light and shade with the long-awaited Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) programme given a kick start aſter being caught in the financial doldrums.
The LCS Fort Worth is launched.
J
ust before the New Year the US Navy completed a U-turn and instead of opting for a winner-take-all
procurement policy decided to order both the Austal USA and Lockheed Martin versions of the design. Te total value of the initial contracts is more than US$957 million but if options are taken up the yards could earn nearly US$9 billion. Each has received a contract for
one LCS Flight 0+ together with one for technical data package, core class services, provisioned items orders, non-recurring engineering and data items. In the case of Austal the contracts were for US$465,468,881 including US$432,069,883 for the ship with work completed by June 2015, while for Lockheed Martin the figures are US$491,595,278 and US$436,852,639, with work completed by August 2015. However, under the contracts each yard
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will receive orders for another nine ships by 2015. Te total potential value of each contract is US$4.39 billion and US$4.57 billion respectively, although if second sources are involved in building the ships the figures will be US$3.79 billion and US$4.1 billion. Te US Navy reckons that it has got a bargain with a potential 20 hulls for the price, under original proposals, of 15 ships because the yards were offering extremely competitive packages which expired at the end of December. Tis will be a major boost to the navy
which has been able to order only four ships in the past six years and will now receive 20 with a goal of 55 hulls (‘sea frames’) and 64 mission packages; 24 anti-surface warfare, 24 mine warfare and 16 anti-submarine warfare. However, it will mean two classes of ships lacking commonality in propulsion and electronics, although the cost of
supporting the two systems will add about 1% according to the navy or US$300 million over the planned life of the LCS fleet while the yards’ packages will save US$2 billion. There are concerns about the key
modules for these ‘sea frames.’ In the mine countermeasures module
the
Rapid Airborne Mine-Clearance System (RAMICS) may be cut due to delays and cost growth and might be replaced with the Airborne Mine Neutralization System. Tere have also been reliability problems with the remote minehunting vehicle, which tows the AN/AQS-20 sonar. For the anti-submarine warfare package, the navy expects to receive a Tales low frequency sonar in 2012. Marinette Marine launched its second
LCS, USS Fort Worth (LCS 3) on 4 December 2010 while Austal will launch its second LCS, USS Coronado (LCS 4), this
Warship Technology March 2011
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