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ITS Alpino (F-594) in Baltimore. USNI News Photo
BALTIMORE, Md. — When the Italian FREMM-class frigate ITS Alpino (F-594) sailed into Baltimore’s Inner Harbor earlier this week, the ship was not just on a good will tour but offered a chance for its builder to show off their entry into the Navy’s new frigate design competition. Read More
USS Billings (LCS-15) launches sideways into the Menominee River in Marinette, Wisconsin in 2017. Lockheed Martin Photo
CAPITOL HILL — Navy leaders are committed to buying a single Littoral Combat Ship in Fiscal Year 2019 despite increasing concern the rate would put shipbuilders at a disadvantage in the upcoming frigate competition. Read More
Littoral Combat Ship Tulsa (LCS-16) is heading back to Austal USA after launching from the drydock at BAE Ship Systems. She’s passing Austal’s vessel completion yard where USNS Yuma (EPF 8), future USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10) and future USS Omaha (LCS 12) are docked in 2016. Austal USA Photo
The Navy’s plan to buy just one Littoral Combat Ship in Fiscal Year 2019 has the two LCS shipbuilders uneasy, just a year before the program is set to transition to a guided-missile frigate and downselect to a single contractor. Read More
USNI News Image
Five ship designs will compete in the Navy’s bid for 20 next-generation guided-missile frigates (FFG(X)) that will follow the Littoral Combat Ship, the service announced on Friday. Read More
Sioux City (LCS-11) during the ship’s moveout at the Fincantieri Marinette Marine yard in Wisconsin. Lockheed Martin photo.
WASHINGTON NAVY YARD – The Navy will begin exploring interest in its revamped frigate program soon, with the Program Executive Office for Littoral Combat Ships (PEO LCS) set to release a request for information (RFI) to industry by the end of the month. Read More
An artist’s concept of a future Italian LHD. Italian Navy Image
The Italian Navy has issued a contract for a big deck amphibious warship in a $1.1 billion ship deal announced last week. Read More
Cmdr. Joe Femino, commanding officer of USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG 54) watches USS Freedom (LCS 1) through a pair of binoculars on June 20. US Navy Photo
The generator problem that sidelined USS Freedom (LCS-1) earlier this month is “the most significant design deficiency that we’re dealing with today,” the Navy’s top acquisition official told a congressional panel on Thursday.
Speaking before the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection forces, assistant secretary of the Navy for Research, Development & Acquisition, Sean Stackley singled out the widely publicized July 20 generator failure as the largest design challenge faced in the class of Littoral Combat Ships. Read More
