SECNAV: Marinette, Navy need to talk

Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer suggested April 24 that leadership at Fincantieri Marinette (Wis.) Marine should talk with the service about coming up with more competitive prices for its Littoral Combat Ship’s (LCS) Freedom variant. SECNAV noted the proposed session in response to an LCS question from Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) during a Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee hearing. Marinette’s shipyard builds the Freedom-variant. Austal USA in Mobile, Ala., makes the Independence-variant. Last week, a bipartisan congressional delegation from Wisconsin and Michigan sent Spencer a letter expressing concerns about the Navy’s LCS acquisition strategy, especially how it may be biased against the Freedom-variant. Baldwin repeated those concerns that the Navy is focusing on lowest-price choices rather than including overall value measurements, and that the shipyard needed its skilled workers to maintain an effective competition for the service’s follow on future frigate (FFG(X)) program. Spencer said U.S. shipbuilders “have an amazing working force” … but also “there is probably room at the owner of the LCS operation up there (in Wisconsin) to be competitive. … (T)hey should sit down with us and address those abilities to become competitive,” he added. (Source: Defense Daily 04/24/18)