Freedom-class

Navy Issues Draft RFP for FFG(X) Next-Generation Frigate

Artist’s rendering of the Austal USA FFG(X) bid from SNA 2019. Austal USA Image

The Navy has issued a draft request for proposal to design and build its planned class of 20 next-generation guided-missile frigates (FFG(X)).

Posted late Friday, the detailed design and construction RFP draft will serve as a practice run for shipbuilders to pitch their designs for the small surface combatants that are set to follow on the two classes of Littoral Combat Ships currently in production.

The document lays...

https://news.usni.org/2019/03/02/navy-issues-draft-rfp-ffgx-next-generation-frigate

LCS Mission Package Office Focused On Test, Fielding; IOC Dates Continue to Slip

The future littoral combat ship USS Wichita (LCS 13) conducts acceptance trials, which are the last significant milestone before a ship is delivered to the Navy. US Navy photo.

ARLINGTON, Va. – The Littoral Combat Ship mission package program office considers itself to be out of the technology development business and fully into testing and production, the program manager said last week.

All three of the LCS mission packages are in some form of testing this fiscal year and will hit various...

https://news.usni.org/2019/01/25/lcs-mission-package-office-focused-on-test-fielding-ioc-dates-continue-to-slip

Navy Squeezing Costs Out of FFG(X) Program as Requirements Solidify

Artist’s rendering of the Austal USA FFG(X) bid from SNA 2019. Austal USA Image

ARLINGTON, Va. – The Navy says it may have squeezed out about $150 million per hull in savings as the service closes in on final requirements for a planned class of next-generation frigates (FFG(X)), program officials said last week.

After raising eyebrows in Congress last year with an upper-end cost of about $950 million per hull for the second ship and beyond, the Navy is now saying that figure could be closer to...

https://news.usni.org/2019/01/22/navy-squeezing-costs-ffgx-program-requirements-solidify

USS Wichita Commissions Saturday, Will Bring LCS MCM Capability to East Coast

The future littoral combat ship USS Wichita (LCS 13) conducts acceptance trials in July. Lockheed Martin photo.

A new Littoral Combat Ship will commission on Saturday and head up a new mine countermeasures-focused division at Naval Station Mayport, Fla. 

The Navy accepted delivery of Freedom-variant LCS Wichita (LCS-13) in August, coincidentally on the same day another Freedom-variant, Sioux City (LCS-11), was delivered. The two ships, the 14th and 15th LCSs delivered to the Navy, were built by...

https://news.usni.org/2019/01/11/navys-first-mine-warfare-lcs-joins-fleet-saturday

Navy Awards 2 LCSs to Austal USA; Third FY 2019 Ship Still Being Negotiated

The future USS Charleston (LCS-18) during acceptance trials on July 18, 2018. Austal photo.

Austal USA was awarded two of the three Littoral Combat Ships the Navy can buy in Fiscal Year 2019, further increasing the number of Independence-variant LCSs the Navy will ultimately have in the fleet.

The Navy awarded contract to build LCS-36 and LCS-38 to the Mobile, Ala.-based company on Friday evening.

In a Monday statement, Austal highlighted the unprecedented calendar year it has had, delivering...

https://news.usni.org/2018/12/17/navy-awards-2-lcss-austal-usa-third-fy-2019-ship-still-negotiated

Littoral Combat Ship Report to Congress

The following is the Oct. 22, 2018 Congressional Research Service report, Navy Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Program: Background and Issues for Congress.

The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) is a relatively inexpensive surface combatant equipped with modular mission packages. Navy plans call for procuring a total of 32 LCSs. The first LCS was procured in FY2005, and the Navy’s proposed FY2018 budget requested the procurement of the 30th and 31st LCSs. As part of its action on the Navy’s proposed FY2018...

https://news.usni.org/2018/11/22/littoral-combat-ship-report-congress

Littoral Combat Ship Sioux City Set to Commission on Saturday at the Naval Academy

Future USS Sioux City (LCS-11) at the U.S. Naval Academy before the ship’s commissioning ceremony. US Naval Academy photo.

The future USS Sioux City (LCS -11) is moored at U.S. Naval Academy for a commissioning scheduled for Saturday, the first such ceremony held for a warship on the Severn River.

U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) is scheduled to deliver the commissioning ceremony’s principal address. Mary Winnefeld, the wife of former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. James “Sandy”...

https://news.usni.org/2018/11/16/uss-sioux-city-lcs-11-set-to-commission-at-naval-academy

Report to Congress on U.S. Navy Frigate (FFG(X)) Program

The following is the Oct. 22, 2018 Congressional Research Service report, Navy Frigate (FFG(X)) Program: Background and Issues for Congress.

The Navy in 2017 initiated a new program, called the FFG(X) program, to build a class of 20 guided-missile frigates (FFGs). The Navy wants to procure the first FFG(X) in FY2020, the second in FY2021, and the remaining 18 at a rate of two per year in FY2022-FY2030. The Navy’s proposed FY2019 budget requests $134.8 million in research and development funding...

https://news.usni.org/2018/10/24/report-congress-u-s-navy-frigate-ffgx-program-4

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