The following is the Jan. 29, 2024, Congressional Research Service report, Navy LPD-17 Flight II and LHA Amphibious Ship Programs: Background and Issues for Congress.
From the report
The Navy is currently building two types of larger amphibious ships: LPD-17 Flight II class amphibious ships, and LHA-type amphibious assault ships. Both types are built by Huntington Ingalls Industries/Ingalls Shipbuilding (HII/Ingalls) of Pascagoula, MS. Oversight issues for Congress regarding larger amphibious ships include the Navy’s plans for procuring LPD-17 Flight II class ships in FY2024 and subsequent years, and associated projected numbers of larger amphibious ships; Navy proposals for retiring older LSD-41/49 class amphibious ships; the Navy’s non-use of LHA-LPD-17 block-buy procurement authority provided by Congress; technical and cost risk in the LPD-17 Flight II and LHA programs; and the operational readiness of in-service larger amphibious ships.
The Navy’s 355-ship force-level goal, released in December 2016, calls for achieving and maintaining a force of 38 larger amphibious ships, including 12 LHA/LHD-type amphibious assault ships, 13 LPD-17 Flight I class ships, and 13 LPD-17 Flight II class ships (i.e., 12+13+13). The Navy and the office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) have been working since 2019 to develop a new force-level goal to replace the 355-ship force-level goal. The Marine Corps supports a successor amphibious ship force-level goal with 31 larger amphibious ships, including 10 LHA/LHD-type ships, 13 LPD-17 Flight I class ships, and 8 LPD-17 Flight II class ships (i.e., 10+13+8). Marine Corps officials have stated that a force with fewer than 31 larger amphibious ships would increase operational risks for meeting requests from U.S. regional combatant commanders for amphibious ships for day-to-day forward presence or responding to contingencies. The Navy also nominally supports a force-level goal of 31 larger amphibious ships. Section 1023 of the FY2023 NDAA amended 10 U.S.C. 8062 to require the Navy to include not less than 31 operational larger amphibious ships, including 10 LHA/LHD-type ships and 21 LPD-type or older LSD-type amphibious ships.
Notwithstanding 10 U.S.C. 8062, the Navy’s FY2024 budget submission does not program the procurement of any further LPD-17 Flight II amphibious ships (i.e., it proposes truncating the LPD-17 Flight II program at three ships), and projects that the number of larger amphibious ships will remain below 31, with the figure decreasing to 26 in FY2035 and to 19 to 23 in FY2053. The Marine Corps’ FY2024 unfunded priorities list (UPL) includes, as its top unfunded priority, $1,712.5 million in procurement funding for procuring a fourth LPD-17 Flight II class ship (LPD-33) in FY2024.
The most recently procured LHA-type ship is LHA-9. The Navy’s FY2024 budget submission estimates its procurement cost at $3,834.3 million (i.e., about $3.8 billion). The ship has received a total of $2,004.1 million in prior year advance procurement (AP) and procurement funding. The Navy’s proposed FY2024 budget requests the remaining $1,830.1 million needed to complete the ship’s procurement cost.
Section 129 of the FY2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) (H.R. 7776/P.L. 117-263 of December 23, 2022) permits the Navy to enter into a block buy contract for procuring a combination of up to five LPD-17 and LHA-type amphibious ships.
The Navy’s FY2024 budget submission also proposes retiring three aging LSD-41/49 class amphibious ships in FY2024.
Marine Corps officials in public remarks have called attention to the number of in-service amphibious ships that are not operationally ready because they are undergoing or need maintenance and repair work, and have stated that inadequate numbers of operationally ready amphibious ships have resulted in instances of where the Navy has not been able to meet requests from U.S. regional combatant commanders for amphibious ships for day-to-day forward presence or responding to contingencies.
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