Welcome to MSW’s Scuttlebutt! Here’s the news for the day.
Lockheed, Austal’s Littoral Ships to Cost At Least $37 Billion
Source: Bloomberg news
WASHINGTON --- The U.S. Navy program to develop and build 55 vessels for close-to-shore operations will cost at least $37.4 billion -- not including equipment required for a full range of missions, according to new Pentagon figures.
Development of the Littoral Combat Ship is estimated at $3.5 billion and construction of the fleet at $33.7 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars, according to the estimate disclosed April 15 in an annual Selected Acquisition Report to Congress. Another $236 million is included for construction of facilities to support the ships.
Prior to the April 15 report and summary, the Navy published only a development cost estimate. Pentagon officials April 8 approved moving the program into the engineering and manufacturing phase -- an act that requires a formal estimate of the procurement costs.
Two teams led by Lockheed Martin Corp. and Austal Ltd. are designing and building respective LCS versions. The first two vessels have been commissioned into the Navy. Six others are under contract.
The 37-page report estimates the ships will cost about $535 million apiece in fiscal 2010 dollars. It estimates future-year costs of as much as $636 million in inflation-adjusted dollars.
Those estimates are for ship construction only and don’t include money for as many as 64 so-called mission modules -- interchangeable systems on each vessel for mine-hunting, anti- submarine missions and surface warfare against small boats, according to the report obtained by Bloomberg News.
Total Cost Unknown
“More than nine years after the program was first announced and six years after the start of the sea frame procurement, there is still no official Pentagon estimate for the total cost of the LCS program,” said Ronald O’Rourke, a naval analyst with the non-partisan Congressional Research Service.
“I’m not sure how many other Defense Department weapon procurement programs of comparable size have proceeded for that long into the procurement phase without an official estimate of total cost,” he said in an e-mail.
The mission modules are being developed as a separate program, and there isn’t yet a procurement cost estimate, the report to Congress said.
Aegis Combat Systems Installed on Two New U.S. Navy Destroyers
Source: Lockheed Martin
MOORESTOWN, N.J. --- The U.S. Navy, supported by Lockheed Martin, has installed the Aegis Combat System aboard two new Navy destroyers, USS Gravely (DDG 107) and USS Jason Dunham (DDG 109).
The Aegis Combat Systems aboard the ships have also been certified as fully operational through the tests known as Combat Systems Ship Qualification Trials.
During the trials, the ships' Aegis Combat Systems were evaluated for combat-readiness through comprehensive surface, subsurface and anti-air warfare exercises. These included manned raids and electronic attack scenarios, as well as thorough testing of the systems' tactical data link and air defense capabilities.
"The Aegis systems installed on these two ships represent continued improvements to what is a very agile and capable Aegis system," said Carmen Valentino, Lockheed Martin's vice president of Future Surface Combat systems. "Our Aegis team has successfully delivered 15 technological evolutions to the Navy, taking the Aegis combat system from an anti-ship missile system to the basis for the U.S. approach to global missile defense."
The Aegis Weapon System includes the SPY-1 radar, the Navy's most advanced radar system. When paired with the MK 41 Vertical Launching System, it is capable of delivering missiles for every mission and threat environment in naval warfare.
Including these two new Navy ships, the Aegis Weapon System is deployed on 95 ships around the globe. Aegis is the weapon system of choice for Australia, Japan, Norway, the Republic of Korea and Spain. Aegis-equipped ships combined have more than 1,200 years of at-sea operational experience and have launched more than 3,800 missiles in tests and actual operations.
The USS Gravely and USS Jason Dunham are both Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyers.
The Battle of Fort Royal
Today’s is the anniversary of the The Battle of Fort Royal.
Battleships and Knights
Today’s website is [http://xoomer.virgilio.it/bk/]Battleships and Knights[/url]. Enjoy.
This Day in U.S. Naval History
1921 - U.S. Naval Detachment left Yugoslavia after administering area around Spalato for two years to guarantee transfer of area from Austria to new country.
1952 - USS Hobson (DMS 26) sinks after colliding with USS Wasp (CV 18); 176 lives lost.
Diorama Idea of the Day
Sailors assigned to the air department degrease jet blast deflectors aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70). To see the original high resolution photo, click here.
Gator
