Leveraging ship-build protection

WASHINGTON, DC - The Navy’s FY 2019 budget request, and long-range shipbuilding plan, were crafted with the industry’s health in mind, Navy leadership told members of the House Armed Services’ Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee hearing March 6. Vice Adm. Bill Merz, deputy chief of naval operations for warfare systems, said the Navy’s annual 30-year shipbuilding plan (designed to reach 355 fleet ships by the 2050s) prioritizes industry in a way it never has before. “(W)e have to provide a balanced Navy. And with that, we are unlikely to ask for ships above our requirement.” An example of Navy funding for hull-specific requirements, rather than industrial needs, is the Littoral Combat Ship. Both LCS builders, Austal USA of Mobile, Ala., and Lockheed Martin/Fincantieri Marinette (Wis.) Marine, optimized shipyards to build two ships each per year, but in 2017, the Navy said it needed at least three total ships a year to keep the yards competitive before the next-generation frigate (FFG(X)) program kicks off. The Navy requested one ship for FY-19, which would be the 33rd LCS (one more than planned). The FY-19 requested ship “will lead to a gap in production that would negatively impact the yards, which will result in job losses … and increased cost for the Navy,” Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.), whose district includes Austal. The Navy and Congress have to “figure out together if we can work it so that these shipyards don’t crumble on us … (and) without that, you will not have an effective competition for the frigate,” Bryne commented. “(Y)ou’ll have four ships over the next two years,” said Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition James Geurts. “I believe it’s at the minimum sustaining level” for the shipyards and workforce, he continued, “but I do acknowledge that would probably cause some work turndown in those yards as we go back into frigate” and select one contractor. Five builders are under contract for ship design work on the FFG(X), which would form frigate requirements and selection criteria in the initial Request For Proposals next summer. (Source: USNI News 03/06/18)