The budget and shipbuilders

Shipbuilders in Pascagoula, Miss., and Mobile, Ala., will feel an impact from the Pentagon's budget plan outlined Thursday. Littoral Combat Ships built by Austal USA in Mobile and Marinette Marine in Wisconsin will get expanded roles. The Navy intends to base some in Singapore and Bahrain. The 15 LCSs that were to be purchased from 2013 to 2017 was trimmed to 13, but the largest shipbuilding reduction would cut eight of nine planned Austal Joint High Speed Vessels. The budget proposal also delays by a year the start of construction for the Huntington Ingalls LHA-8 large-deck amphibious vessel, but doesn't slow Navy plans to buy additional Arleigh Burke-class DDG-51 destroyers from General Dynamics and Huntington Ingalls. (Source: Bloomberg, 01/26/12)

Navy seeks more HII cost-cutting

WASHINGTON -- The Navy is working with Huntington Ingalls to drive down costs on the CVN 78 aircraft carrier and LPD amphibious ships under construction. Navy acquisition chief Sean Stackley said HII hit the cost ceiling established in a fixed price contract for LPD-22, the second ship delivered at the Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss. He told reporters at the Surface Navy Association's annual conference that subsequent ships in the class were also over target, but showing improvement. HII Chief Executive Mike Petters said the company had already taken charges for the cost overruns on the LPD ships 22 through 25, but said the company was doing better with LPD 26, which is in the early stages of production. (Source: Reuters, 01/12/12)

Two agencies push STEM training

For NASA and the Navy, ensuring there's a pool of talent versed in science, technology, engineering and math is crucial, and both agencies have programs in place to pique the interest of the next generation of workers. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, with a center at Stennis Space Center, Miss., and the Navy, a tenant at SSC, are reaching Mississippi students through several programs. Between January and November 2011, nearly 1,000 educators and 10,000 students have been served through SSC programs. And this year the Navy will launch "Mission Ocean," a year-long submarine-related program. (Source: Alliance Insight, "NASA, Navy push STEM training," January 2012) Full newsletter

Contract: SAIC, $10.6M

Science Applications International Corp., Mclean, Va., is being awarded a $10,647,009 modification to a previously awarded, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the Deep Sea Operations Program to introduce surveillance that operates at extreme ocean depths to detect quiet submarines. The exercising of this 15-month option brings the cumulative value of this contract to an estimated $12,199,237. Work will be conducted at contractor facilities in Arlington, Va. (27 percent); Long Beach, Miss. (27 percent); San Diego, Calif. (22 percent); Austin, Texas (17 percent); Germantown, Md. (six percent); and Melbourne, Fla. (one percent). Work is expected to be completed April 11, 2013. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific, San Diego, Calif., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 01/12/12)

Navy to christen LCS Coronado

MOBILE, Ala. -- The Navy will christen the Littoral Combat Ship Coronado, Saturday, Jan. 14, during a 10 a.m. CST ceremony in Mobile, Ala. The Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development & Acquisition, Sean Stackley, will deliver the principal address. The ship's name recognizes the city of Coronado, Calif., and honors the city's deep ties to the U.S. Navy. Coronado has been home to Naval Air Station North Island and Naval Amphibious Base, since 1917. Two previous ships have been named after this city. Designated LCS 4, Coronado is designed to operate in littoral seas and shallow water to counter mines, submarines and fast surface craft threats in coastal regions. Constructed by Austal USA, Coronado is the second of the Independence-variant in the LCS class. (Source: DoD, 01/12/12)

SSC experts to chair event

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. -- Two oceanographers from NASA's Stennis Space Center will chair a conference on ocean sensing and monitoring. The International Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) Defense Security and Sensing's fourth Ocean Sensing and Monitoring conference is scheduled for April 23-27 in Baltimore, Md. It will be chaired by Weilin "Will" Hou and Bob Arnone, both oceanographers in the Oceanography Division at Naval Research Laboratory at Stennis Space Center. Hou developed the conference for SPIE and has chaired the event with Arnone since 2008. The conference will focus on research and development efforts in the open and coastal ocean with respect to defense and security interests. An emphasis will be placed on in situ and remote monitoring, deep-sea operations, forecasting, new technology and techniques, monitoring of unique events, and environmental limitations and impacts of note to those in the homeland security and defense sectors. (Source: Naval Research Laboratory, 01/11/12)

Contract: Lockheed Martin, $20.6M

Lockheed Martin Corp., Baltimore, Md., is being awarded a $20,616,676 modification to previously awarded contract for MK 41 Vertical Launching System production support material, interim support parts, and equipment in support of DDG 51 class construction. The MK 41 VLS provides a missile launching system for CG 47 and DDG 51 class surface combatants of the U.S. Navy, surface combatants of allied navies, and Aegis Ashore requirements for Missile Defense Agency's Ground Ballistic Missile Defense Program. It is the primary missile launching system aboard Navy combatants used to store, safe, inventory and launch missiles of various types. Work will be performed in Baltimore, Md. (41.1 percent); Lewisburg, Tenn. (19.1 percent); Fort Walton Beach, Fla. (18.8 percent); Johnstown, Pa. (9.2 percent); Simpsonville, S.C. (5.5 percent); Clearwater, Fla. (3.2 percent); and Sterling Heights, Mich. (3.1 percent). Work is expected to be completed by June 2015. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 01/10/12)