littoral combat ship Archives - Page 15 of 17

Navy Budgeting $1.3B for First FFG(X) Hull; 9 Planned Over the Next Five Years

12 March 2019

THE PENTAGON — The Navy is budgeting $1.3 billion in Fiscal Year 2020 to purchase its first-in-class guided-missile frigate and associated engineering costs as part of an aggressive push to buy nine FFG(X) hulls by FY 2024, according to a Tuesday Navy budget overview.

The service is set to award the final design and construction contract for the frigate program in 2020, with the delivery of the first ship estimated to occur six years later, according to a draft request for proposal issued last...

https://news.usni.org/2019/03/12/navy-budgeting-1-3b-first-ffgx-hull-9-planned-next-five-years

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

2 March 2019

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

Navy Retooling Fire Scout Program to Focus on More Complex Warfare Missions

21 February 2019

Maintainers from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 1 (VX-1) analyze diagnostics from the MQ-8C Fire Scout on the flight deck of the Independence variant littoral combat ship USS Coronado (LCS 4) on June 21, 2018. US Navy photo.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The Navy is rethinking how it will employ its emerging MQ-8C Fire Scout rotary-wing unmanned vehicles to help Littoral Combat Ships take on tougher targets in a new age of great power competition.

Within the last year, the Navy has shifted the focus of...

https://news.usni.org/2019/02/20/navy-retooling-fire-scout-program-focus-complex-warfare-missions

Austal Expanding Involvement in LCS Program Through Maintenance Planning, Execution

11 February 2019

The littoral combat ship USS Montgomery (LCS 8) enters dry dock for Post Shakedown Availability (PSA) at San Diego Ship Repair on May 19, 2017. PSA is designed to harness results of a thorough test and evaluation period and pave the way to operational employment by the Navy. It is the last availability in the ship construction period and required repairs identified during combat systems ship qualifications trials and final contractor trials are made using contractor and program office money. US...

https://news.usni.org/2019/02/11/austal-expanding-involvement-in-lcs-program-through-maintenance-planning-execution

Wisconsin may spend $31 million to help Marinette Marine capture Navy frigate contract

28 January 2019

The littoral combat ship St. Louis was christened in December at Fincantieri Marinette Marine. Navy photo.

Wisconsin will allot $31 million in its upcoming state budget to help Fincantieri Marinette Marine’s plan to expand its operations and bid for building the next Navy frigate class, a contract potentially worth $10 billion.

Gov. Tony Evers announced the plan at the shipyard Thursday, to help keep the shipyard’s 1,500-strong workforce and add another 400 jobs. Marinette has been building the Navy’s Freedom variant of the littoral combat ship since 2010, while Austal USA, Mobile, Ala., builds the...

https://www.workboat.com/news/shipbuilding/wisconsin-may-spend-31-million-to-help-marinette-marine-capture-navy-frigate-contract/

Navy Pursuing ‘Surface Development Squadron’ to Experiment with Zumwalt DDGs, Unmanned Ships

28 January 2019

USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) steams in formation with USS Independence (LCS-2) on Dec. 8, 2016. US Navy Photo

ARLINGTON, Va. – Naval Surface Forces is continuing its push for an experimental squadron that would help figure out how to best leverage new platforms such as the Zumwalt-class destroyers and unmanned surface ships.

Vice Adm. Rich Brown, commander of Naval Surface Forces and Naval Surface Force Pacific, said earlier this month that he wanted to see “aggressive experimentation” in the surface...

https://news.usni.org/2019/01/28/navy-still-pursuing-surface-development-squadron-experiment-zumwalt-ddgs-unmanned-ships

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

25 January 2019

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

23 January 2019

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

Navy awards another LCS to Marinette Marine

22 January 2019

Fincantieri Marinette Marine will build a 16th littoral combat ship for the Navy. Lockheed Martin Corp. photo

Within the Littoral Combat Ship program (LCS), the U.S. Navy has awarded the consortium consisting of Fincantieri, through its subsidiary Fincantieri Marinette Marine (FMM), and Lockheed Martin Corp., a contract to build an additional 387.6’x57.7′, 40-knot LCS.

The new LCS 31, with a draft of 14.1′, will be the 16th ship of the LCS program Freedom-variant, one of the Navy’s main shipbuilding programs. The Fincantieri and Lockheed Martin team is in full-rate production of the Freedom-variant and...

https://www.workboat.com/news/shipbuilding/navy-awards-another-lcs-marinette-marine/

Navy Set to Restart LCS Deployments this Year, Despite Challenges in Manning, Training

14 January 2019

USS Wichita (LCS-13) conducts acceptance trials on Lake Michigan on July 11, 2018. Lockheed Martin photo.

The Navy is optimistic it will deploy three Littoral Combat Ships by this fall, after not deploying any last year and grappling with significant gaps in manning and advanced training.

The service was supposed to push forward three ships in Fiscal Year 2018, after a 2016 overhaul of LCS homeporting, command and control and manning constructs. However, USNI News first reported in April 2018...

https://news.usni.org/2019/01/14/navy-confident-in-lcs-deployments-this-year-despite-challenges-in-manning-training

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