SSC decision by February

Senior Navy officials have made final presentations to Defense Department Secretary Chuck Hagel on its choice for a Small Surface Combatant (SSC). A decision by SECDEF Hagel, on what type ship to build after the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), should come in time “to inform” the FY 2016 budget submission - due in February 2015. The future course of the LCS program has been in doubt since last February, when Hagel directed the Navy to develop a more heavily armed warship. (Source: Defense News, 11/07/14) Gulf Coast shipbuilding: Austal USA of Mobile, Ala., builds the Independence Class LCS, one of two differing hull types, for the Navy.