USS Independence Archives - Page 2 of 2

Lockheed Martin Won’t Submit Freedom LCS Design for FFG(X) Contest

28 May 2019

Lockheed Martin FFG(X) design. Lockheed Martin Image

Lockheed Martin won’t submit a bid to compete in the design of the Navy’s next-generation guided-missile (FFG(X)) frigate competition, company officials told USNI News on Tuesday.

The company elected to focus on its involvement developing the frigate combat system and other systems rather than forward its Freedom-class LCS design for the detailed design and construction contract Naval Sea Systems Command plans to issue this summer, Joe...

https://news.usni.org/2019/05/28/lockheed-martin-wont-submit-freedom-lcs-design-for-ffgx-contest

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

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

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

24 October 2018

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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