A helicopter from the Philippine navy prepares to land on the flight deck of the littoral combat ship USS Coronado (LCS 4) during an exercise for Maritime Training Activity (MTA) Sama Sama 2017 in June 2017. US Navy photo.
The House Appropriations Committee’s defense funding bill for Fiscal Year 2019 would buy a dozen new warships for the Navy, including two Littoral Combat Ships beyond the service’s request, according to the text of the bill that was released on Wednesday. Read More
USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS-10) is pierside at Naval Base San Diego and preparing to conduct final contract trials (FCT) in 2017. US Navy Photo
CAPITOL HILL – The House Armed Services Committee released sections of its Fiscal Year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, which recommends buying 13 ships and beginning a handful of aircraft multiyear procurement contracts. Read More
The amphibious transport dock ship USS New York (LPD 21) departs Naval Station Mayport on Feb. 7, 2018, for a scheduled six-month deployment. US Navy photo.
CAPITOL HILL – Navy and Marine Corps leaders are mulling if and how to up-gun the San Antonio-class LPD Flight II ships; whether to buy more attack submarines and how to extend the lives of a handful of Los Angeles-class; and other ideas to increase the size and the lethality of the fleet in the near- to mid-term. Read More
The following is the April 5, 2018 Congressional Research Service report, Navy Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Program: Background and Issues for Congress. Read More
The following is the April 6, 2017 Congressional Research Service report, Navy Frigate (FFG(X)) Program: Background and Issues for Congress. Read More
The littoral combat ship USS Omaha (LCS 12) pulls into Naval Base San Diego on March 9,2018. Omaha is the newest Independence-variant littoral combat ship and one of eight LCS homeported in San Diego. US Navy photo.
This post has been updated to note that USS Little Rock will arrive in Mayport this week.
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – The Navy may not deploy any of its Littoral Combat Ships this year despite previous plans to deploy one to the Middle East and two to Singapore in 2018, due to a confluence of maintenance availabilities that has most of the LCS fleet sidelined this year. Read More
The following is the February 2018 Annual Report to Congress for the Littoral Combat Ship Mission Modules Program Read More
The following is the March 13, 2018 memo Establishment of Program Executive Office Unmanned and Small Surface Combatants. 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
