WASHINGTON (BNS): The US Navy has awarded Austal USA and Lockheed Martin Corporation each a fixed-price incentive contract for the design and construction of a 10 ship block-buy, for a total of 20 littoral combat ships (LCS) from fiscal 2010 through fiscal 2015.
"The awards represent a unique and valuable opportunity to lock in the benefits of competition and provide needed ships to our fleet in a timely and extraordinarily cost-effective manner," US Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said in a statement.
The amount awarded to Austal USA is $432 million and the amount awarded to Lockheed Martin is $437 million. The contract includes options for nine additional vessels in the following five years.
The new contracts give each shipbuilding team one ship to build now, with another in 2011. Two more per year for each team will follow in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015.Lockheed will build a single-hull LCS, while Austal will provide a trimaran -- three hulls side by side. Both versions will weigh around 3,000 tonnes, have a top speed of 40 knots (74 kilometers per hour) and carry a helicopter, the statement said.
When all 10 ships of each block purchase are awarded, the value of the ship construction portion of the two contracts would be 3.6 billion dollars for Lockheed Martin and 3.5 billion for Austal USA.
"The LCS is uniquely designed to win against 21st century threats in coastal waters posed by increasingly capable submarines, mines and swarming small craft," Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Gary Roughead, was quoted as saying in the statement.
| Related Photos |
The littoral combat ship USS Freedom (LCS 1) operates off the coast of Kauai, Hawaii, during the at-sea phase of Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2010, the world's largest international maritime exercise. (U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Ed Early/Released)
The Navy's newest littoral combat ship USS Independence (LCS 2) arrives at Mole Pier at Naval Air Station Key West. Independence is on the way to Norfolk, Va., for commencement of initial testing and evaluation of the aluminum vessel before sailing to its homeport in San Diego. Independence is a fast, agile, mission-focused ship specifically designed to defeat "anti-access" threats in shallow, coastal water regions, including surface craft, diesel submarines and mines. (U.S. Navy photo by Naval Air Crewman 2nd Class Nicholas Kontodiakos/Released)
The littoral combat ship Pre-Commissioning Unit (PCU) Fort Worth (LCS 3) is launched into the Menominee River during a christening ceremony for the navy's third littoral combat ship. Fort Worth will continue to undergo outfitting and testing at Marinette Marine before delivery to the Navy in 2012. (U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Lockheed Martin/Released)
A composite photograph of the littoral combat ships USS Freedom (LCS 1), top, and USS Independence (LCS 2) provided by Naval Surface Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet shows the two ships underway. (U.S. Navy photo illustration/Released)
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