The Navy’s exclusive competition for the construction of the LHA-8 amphibious assault ship and new oiler auxiliary vessels is intended to protect the industrial base, Navy acquisition chief Sean Stackley said Wednesday, warning that one of the two shipyards involved, General Dynamics [GD] NASSCO, could be in “peril” as a Navy shipbuilder without the limited approach.
Stackley, testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee panel on seapower, said the Navy is confining the shipbuilding competition to NASSCO and Huntington Ingalls Industries’ [HII] Ingalls Shipbuilding to ensure each of the yards gets contracts to keep them stable, while at the same time maintaining a sufficient level of competition to keep the ships affordable.
San Diego-based NASSCO is under contract for the Navy’s second Afloat Forward Staging Base (AFSB), which is expected to be complete in three years. While the Navy’s shipbuilding plan calls for the third AFSB to go under contract in fiscal 2017, NASSCO has one ship at the moment of guaranteed work. Stackley said having a critical shipyard like NASSCO with only a single contract is less than ideal for the state of the industrial base.
“NASSCO is one contract away. They are in peril. That is why this is an important aspect of NASSCO’s viability,” Stackley said, referring to the Navy’s acquisition plan for the LHA-8 and oilers.
Under the plan announced last month, the Navy is coupling the competition for the detailed design and construction contracts for the LHA-8, the T-AO(X) oilers and some early design work for a new class of amphibious LX(R) dock landing ships. One shipyard will get either the LHA-8 or the six oilers, but the best bid will also get the bulk of the design work for the LX(R).
“We view them both critical to the industrial base,” Stackley said. “If we were to go down a path of open completion and solicit these one at a time there is tremendous uncertainty in terms of what the outcome would be in terms of the industrial base and the affordability of those programs.”
Stackley said the competitive arrangement is also aimed at keeping Ingalls, located in Pascagoula, Miss., stable. “If Ingalls does not get one of those two major programs they are at risk,” he said.
NASSCO also builds commercial vessels, while Ingalls is one of two yards, along with General Dynamic Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine, that builds Navy destroyers.
NASSCO spokeswoman Staci Egnell said the company did not share Stackley’s characterization of the shipyard’s status, saying it is working to deliver the second AFSB on time and is looking forward to receiving the Navy’s contract for the follow-on ship in fiscal 2017.
“We don’t see it that way,” she said.
Stackley said the work levels required for the LHA-8 is roughly equal to that of the six oilers.
The LX(R) class is meant to replace the Whidbey Island and Harpers Ferry class ships currently in the fleet.
The Navy’s budget proposal released Feb. 2 calls for funding the construction of the first TAO(X) in fiscal 2016, which begins Oct. 1, followed by one each in fiscal years 2018-2020. Construction is set to begin on the LHA-8 in 2017, according to the budget documents. The first LX(R) is scheduled for 2020.