Lockheed Martin [LMT] believes its international variants of the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship could fetch sales within two years, a company executive said Jan. 13.
Lockheed Martin has been feeling out the international market for what it is calling the Multi-Mission Combat Ship for several years. It is offering the ship in three hull lengths: 85, 118 and 140 meters. Company executives have previously said international interest could generate sales of more than 50 of the ships over the next decade.
Joe North, the company’s vice president of littoral ship systems, told reporters that at least three countries representing Asia or the Middle East have initiated budgeting plans for the ship, and he anticipates those could yield sales in 2014 or 2015. He would not specify the countries that have expressed interest.
North cautioned that predicting the timing on international sales, particularly in cases governed by the U.S. Foreign Military Sales program, can be difficult but said he was “very positive” some deals could be worked out in the next couple years. He added that the interested nations have begun to set aside funding in budgeting plans based on estimations provided by Lockheed Martin.
He said most of the interest has been on the 85- and 118-meter versions, the latter being consistent with the length of the
Freedom-variant built by Lockheed Martin for the Navy’s LCS program. It was unclear whether those countries could pursue another type of ship of similar cost and capability from other potential providers.
The Multi-Mission Combat Ship, unlike the Navy’s LCS, which is designed for three swappable mission packages for anti-surface, anti-submarine and anti-mine warfare, will instead have a fixed mission set based on the customer’s requirements, company executives have previously said.
North said some countries, like the U.S. Navy on LCS, have also been interested in deploying the MH-60R Romeo helicopters on the Multi-Mission Combat Ship. Lockheed Martin is the systems integrator for the MH-60R program, while Sikorsky, a division of United Technologies [UTX], builds the airframe.
Austal USA is the builder of the second variant of the Littoral Combat Ship based on the USS Independence (LCS-2).