By Ann Roosevelt
The Chief of Naval Operations sees benefits in buying its new Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) from two shipbuilders to improve the sea-service’s work in the future.
If the Navy buys 10 LCS each from teams led by Austal USA and Lockheed Martin [LMT], the service will have 20 ships.”Twenty is better than 15,” Adm. Gary Roughead said, referring to previous plans yesterday at the Hudson Institute in Washington.
Particularly, the ships would give the Navy a “significant capability and capacity,” he said, and “capacity is the real driver.”
The Navy plans to buy some 55 of the fast, shallow-draft ships that are prepared to carry modular mission packages.
Roughead wants more ships sooner, as they help prepare the Navy for future trends, such as population growth and movement toward the coast–the littorals, where LCS is meant to operate.
The new LCS also will enhance Navy global presence, working in partnership with other navies and responding after natural disasters such as those in Haiti and Indonesia.
The Navy initially planned to buy 10 LCS from either Austal USA or Lockheed Martin, then compete another five such ships. The decision on which ship to buy: Austal’s aluminum trimaran-hulled Independence-class version or Lockheed Martin’s steel Freedom-class vessel, has been pending for months.
Now, the maritime service wants Congress to approve the new strategy. That could come as language inserted as part of still-unpassed fiscal year 2010 defense-authorization bill, or in a continuing resolution (Defense Daily, Nov. 4). Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.), ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Seapower and Expeditionary Forces subcommittee, said the new plan seemed “out of step” with Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ approach to buying weapon systems (Defense Daily, Nov. 12).
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) has said he’s concerned about costs and wants to hear more. Shelby sits on the Senate Appropriations Defense subcommittee. Colleague Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said in a statement the plan “is a good strategy, and I will strongly support it.” Sessions serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Roughead said he approaches Navy projects by looking at the mission, budget and industrial base. He sees the industrial base as “a strategic asset” important for producing the ships, airplanes and tanks the nation needs.
As the Navy considers investment decisions today against potential futures, buying ships such as LCS must also be balanced against how long they will serve.
For example, right now the USS Enterprise (CVN-65), the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is preparing for deployment to Afghanistan, Roughead said. The carrier’s first mission was participating in the Cuban Missile Crisis.