The Navy yesterday awarded LCS prime contractors Lockheed Martin [LMT] and Austal USA a total of $745.1 million to begin construction on the first ships under the multimillion LCS procurement deal inked late last year.
Lockheed Martin’s cut, totaling $376.6 million, will finance construction of the company’s LCS-5 ship. The $368.5 million for Austal USA will go toward their variant of the next-generation ship, LCS-6, the service said yesterday.
“The awards represent the Navy’s commitment to driving down costs in the Littoral Combat Ship program,” Navy acquisition chief Sean Stackley said, according to the statement. “We are executing the dual award strategy for these ships.”
In December, the Navy awarded dual multimillion procurement deals to Lockheed Martin and Austal USA for LCS construction.
The 20-ship deal was to be split down the middle, with separate 10-ship contracts being awarded to both companies, according to a Dec. 29 service statement. The Lockheed Martin team was awarded $437 million for development and construction on its half of the LCS, while Austal USA won $432 million for its portion of the build.
Lockheed Martin’s Vice President for Business Development Paul Lemmo said in January company officials will begin construction in June on LCS-5 and anticipates having the second ship under contract within the same time frame.