LM won’t bid on FFG(X) design

Lockheed Martin (LM) will not submit a bid to compete in the design of the Navy’s next-generation guided-missile frigate (FFG(X)) competition, company officials told USNI News on May 28. LM has chosen to focus on developing the frigate’s combat system rather than forward its Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship hull design for the detailed design and construction contract that Naval Sea Systems Command plans to issue this summer, according to Joe DePietro, Lockheed Martin VP of ship systems. The firm told the Navy on May 23 it will not join other bidders for the hull design, according to two USNI News sources. In 2018, five contractors were each awarded a $15M initial design contract to refine an existing ship design for the 20 (FFG(X)) frigates: Huntington Ingalls Industries of Pascagoula, Miss.; Austal USA of Mobile, Ala.; Lockheed Martin, Fincantieri Marine, and General Dynamic’s Bath (Maine) Iron Works. Lockheed Martin, if it had won the contract, would have built the frigate at the Fincantieri Marine-owned Marinette (Wis.) Marine shipyard. Fincantieri would also build its FFG(X) at the same yard. LM partnered with Marinette to build the Freedom-class LCS. In 2009, Marinette was bought by Fincantieri. The Navy plans to issue a final detailed design and construction FFG(X) request for proposal (RFP) with the final contract to be awarded in 2020. (Source: USNI News 05/28/19) Gulf Coast Note: Austal USA will submit a design for the FFG(X) based on its Independence-class LCS.