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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
A July 2016 test of the LRASM from a MK-41 launcher on the Navy’s Self Defense Test Ship. Lockheed Martin Photo
Lockheed Martin has elected not to include its Long Range Anti-Ship Missile in the Navy’s competition to field an over-the-horizon missile for the Littoral Combat Ship and frigate, company officials confirmed to USNI News on Wednesday. Read More
A sailor welds during the ongoing maintinance availability for carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) on June 26, 2014. US Navy Photo
This post has been updated following Pentagon and Navy press briefings on the FY 2018 budget.
THE PENTAGON – The Department of the Navy’s $180-billion budget request sets out to improve overall readiness of the Navy and the Marine Corps while making only modest asks for new aircraft and ships. Read More
USS Sampson (DDG-102) steams along San Celemente Island on May 7, 2017. US Navy Photo
Since the last Pentagon budget request 15 months ago there’s been a presidential election, a seven-month continuing resolution, a supplemental spending bill, promises from the new administration for a military spending spree, vows from inside the Pentagon to rebuild readiness and multiple studies looking at what a future naval fleet should look like.
In the churn leading up to this week’s release of the Fiscal Year 2018 budget request to Congress, questions still remain on the Navy’s acquisition and readiness plans. The following is a list of important policy and acquisition issues that Navy officials have declined to comment on but have assured USNI News and the public that answers would be found in the budget request. Read More
Artist’s concept of a Lockheed Martin Multi-Mission Surface Combatant. US Navy
Saudi Arabia is set to pull the trigger on a $6-billion deal to purchase four Lockheed Martin-built frigates based on the company’s Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship, as part of a major Foreign Military Sales case, USNI News has learned. 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
The following is a May 12, 2017 letter from Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) to President Donald Trump on preserving the production of the Littoral Combat Ship. Read More
Australian F-35A.
Australia aims to be the first all fifth generation air force, integrating the network capabilities of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter with its land and sea components, as well as its allies’ and partners’ forces, its air marshal said Thursday in Washington. Read More
An artist’s representation of a Harpoon Anti-Ship Missile. Boeing Image
Boeing is no longer offering an upgraded variant of its RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship cruise missile as part of a competition to field an over-the-horizon anti-ship missile for the frigate and the Littoral Combat Ship, a company official told USNI News on Tuesday. Read More
