House OKs 3 LCS into ’19 budget

The U.S. House voted 359-54 on July 26 to approve its conference committee’s version of the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2019, which includes three Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) contracts. The committee was formed to reconcile the House and Senate versions produced earlier this week. The conference committee reported that it "continues to be concerned about the stress on the Navy … (being) unable to meet Combatant Commander requirements because it has too few ships.” The NDAA supports construction of a fourth Ford-class aircraft carrier, construction of two additional LCS, and options for two more Virginia-class subs for FY-2022/23. Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.), a member of the House-Senate conference committee and whose district of Mobile is where Austal USA builds the Independence variant of LCS, said he was pleased by the congressional processes. But, the Navy “will never get to the 355-ship Navy fleet that we need … without supporting the LCS program this year," he told Alabama Media Group. The measure must still be approved by the Senate and signed by President Trump. ‘Stars and Stripes’ speculated that passage of the measure before Oct. 1 would be the “first on-time passage of the NDAA in about 20 years." The allocation for three LCS contracts is $1.56B. The overall NDAA spending allocation is $717B. Seven Austal-built ships have entered Navy service, and six more are in various stages of construction or testing. Contracts are with Austal for two more ending with LCS 30. The Independence-class ships all have even-numbered hulls. (Source: Alabama Media Group 07/26/18)