Tag Archives: NDAA 2018

Senate FY 21 Authorization Bill Buys 7 Ships, Adds Oversight on Future Unmanned Air and Surface Ships

Senate FY 21 Authorization Bill Buys 7 Ships, Adds Oversight on Future Unmanned Air and Surface Ships

USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62) departs Huntington Ingalls Industries – Ingalls Shipbuilding’s Pascagoula shipyard to conduct comprehensive at-sea testing on Feb. 3, 2020. US Navy Photo

The Senate Armed Services Committee version of the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act keeps shipbuilding in line with the Navy’s budget request from February but adds additional oversight to the service’s plans for unmanned ships and unmanned aviation, committee staffers told reporters on Thursday. Read More

Shipbuilders Worried About Navy Plan for 1 LCS in 2019 Ahead of Frigate Transition

Shipbuilders Worried About Navy Plan for 1 LCS in 2019 Ahead of Frigate Transition

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

Navy FY 2019 Budget Request Will Include a 30-Year Shipbuilding Plan

Navy FY 2019 Budget Request Will Include a 30-Year Shipbuilding Plan

A crane moves the lower stern into place on the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) at Huntington Ingalls Shipbuilding in Newport News, Va. The second Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier is now 50 percent structurally complete. US Navy Photo

CAPITOL HILL – Next month’s Pentagon budget request to Congress will include a 30-year shipbuilding plan, Navy leadership said today. Read More

Navy Wants FY 2018 Amphib to be First-in-Class LX(R), Not a 14th LPD

Navy Wants FY 2018 Amphib to be First-in-Class LX(R), Not a 14th LPD

San Antonio-class amphib Portland (LPD-27) launches at Ingalls Shipbuilding. HII Photo

ARLINGTON, Va. – The Navy wants the next amphibious ship it buys to be the first of the next-generation LX(R) amphibs rather than another “bridge ship” to the new class, two service officials said, after Congress appears to be leaving the choice to the Navy. Read More

DDG-51 Program Office Preparing RFP for Next Multiyear Buy; Will Include Options for Additional Ships

DDG-51 Program Office Preparing RFP for Next Multiyear Buy; Will Include Options for Additional Ships

Streamers mix with falling snow during the christening of the future guided-missile destroyer USS Thomas Hudner (DDG 116) at the Bath Iron Works shipyard Saturday, April 1, 2017 in Bath, Maine. US Navy photo.

WASHINGTON NAVY YARD — The Navy is preparing to release the request for proposals (RFP) for at least 10 Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers (DDG-51), with a presolicitation notice going out on Dec. 14 and the RFP set for release within the next month, the DDG-51 program manager told USNI News. Read More

Navy Interested in Stable 2-A-Year Attack Boat Construction; Lawmakers This Week Vote on Higher Rate

Navy Interested in Stable 2-A-Year Attack Boat Construction; Lawmakers This Week Vote on Higher Rate

Sailors bring the Virginia-class attack submarine USS Washington (SSN 787) to life during the commissioning ceremony at Naval Station Norfolk on Oct. 7, 2017. Washington is the U.S. Navy’s 14th Virginia-class attack submarine and the fourth U.S. Navy ship named for the State of Washington. US Navy photo.

This post has been updated to include additional background on the two-a-year versus three-a-year talks for the Virginia class. This post has also been corrected to include the accurate title for Tom Dee, performing the duties of the under secretary of the Navy.

THE PENTAGON – The Navy’s undersea warfare division is eyeing a stable two-a-year attack submarine rate to reach its ultimate goal of a 66-SSN fleet, despite calls from outside the service to build a larger navy faster. Read More