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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
The following is the May 19, 2017 Congressional Research Service report, Navy Littoral Combat Ship (LCS)/Frigate Program: Background and Issues for Congress. Read More
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Trump Administration is “supportive” of buying two Littoral Combat Ships in Fiscal Year 2018 despite the federal budget request containing funding for only one, the Navy’s acting acquisition chief said this afternoon. Read More
Sioux City (LCS-11) during the ship’s moveout at the Fincantieri Marinette Marine yard in Wisconsin. Lockheed Martin photo.
This post has been updated to include information from the Pentagon and Navy press conferences on the FY 2018 budget.
THE PENTAGON – The Navy intends to buy just one Littoral Combat Ship in Fiscal Year 2018 – in line with its previous long-range shipbuilding plans but not enough to keep the two yards currently building LCSs open and competitive in the upcoming frigate competition. Read More
USS Milwaukee (LCS-5) during its acceptance trials in Lake Michigan on Sept. 16, 2015. Lockheed Martin photo.
A Wisconsin senator lobbied the president to support the Littoral Combat Ship in the upcoming Fiscal Year 2018 budget request, noting the ship class’s contribution to both the Trump Administration’s push for a larger Navy fleet and its “Buy American, Hire American” policy. Read More
Littoral Combat Ship Tulsa (LCS-16) begins to roll onto the Crowley launch barge. US Navy Photo
WASHINGTON, D.C. — As the Navy reworks its frigate requirements in the hopes of fielding a more capable ship for a more dangerous world, the two current Littoral Combat Ship builders may still have a slight advantage due to their hot production lines, the acting secretary of the Navy said last night. Read More
Austal USA frigate design. Austal USA image
The Navy has slowed its frigate procurement timeline, looking at awarding a detail design and construction contract in Fiscal Year 2020 to allow more time to understand what it needs the ship to do and how it might affordably meet those requirements. Read More
Sailors aboard the Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Oklahoma City (SSN 723) stand topside as the submarine returns home to Guam on Dec. 8, 2016. Oklahoma City, one of four forward-deployed submarines homeported in Apra Harbor, returned to Guam this morning after an eight-month maintenance period known as Docking Selected Restricted Availability. US Navy Photo
U.S. Pacific Command operations were the focus of House and Senate armed services committee hearings this week, and PACOM commander Adm. Harry Harris’ testimony may have provided a glimpse at what he’d like to see in the Fiscal Year 2018 and beyond budget requests. Read More
The following is the April 18, 2017 Government Accountability Office report, Delaying Planned Frigate Acquisition Would Enable Better-Informed Decisions. Read More
Austal USA frigate design. Austal USA image
THE PENTAGON – The Navy is considering increasing its future frigate’s anti-air firepower and may open up the frigate design competition to hulls beyond the current two small surface combatants, the service told USNI News on Wednesday. Read More
