HII gets RFP for LHA-8

The Navy issued a Request For Proposal (RFP) June 25 directly to Huntington Ingalls Industries and General Dynamics’s San Diego-based NASSCO shipyard for the third America-class amphibious warship and six next-generation oilers (TAO(X)). The firms were deemed by the Navy as the only ones capable of building the oiler and LHA-8. The RFP was issued without public notification on the U.S. FedBizOpps website. The Navy expects responses by the fall; yet they won’t be publically releasable. LHA-8 will follow the first two America-class amphibs – America (LHA-6) and Tripoli (LHA-7) – that were built without a well-deck to launch landing craft. LHA-8 – and the rest of the class – will include a well-deck. The Navy will likely look at those two firms to compete for the next generation LX(R) amphibious warship, slated to start construction in 2020. (U.S. Naval Institute News 07/10/15) Gulf Coast Shipbuilding Note: HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss., builds the current LHAs for the Navy.