Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney backs the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program, but increasing the annual build-rate of the vessels designed for close-to-shore operations is not part of his overall plan to augment the Navy’s fleet, a senior campaign defense adviser said yesterday.
“We’re going to keep the Littoral Combat Ships, but that’s not what you want more of,” Dov Zakheim, who served as the Pentagon comptroller under the Bush administration, said following a breakfast hosted by the Defense Writers Group.
Romney has stated that he intends to raise the number of Navy ships annually procured from nine to 15 if he defeats President Barack Obama in next month’s election.
Zakheim said the focus will be on building up the fleet of surface combatants like Arleigh Burke-class (DDG-51) destroyers and Virginia-class (SSN-774) submarines for escorting aircraft carriers. Romney wants to up the attack sub build-rate from two to three annually, he said.
LCSs “have an important role” but are “not escorts for aircraft carriers,” Zakheim said, adding that he signed off on the program during his stint in the Pentagon.
The Navy has commissioned three LCSs with a fourth scheduled for delivery next year. An additional 20 are under contract, evenly split between prime contractors Lockheed Martin [LMT], which builds the Freedom variant, and Austal USA, which builds the Independence version. The program of record calls for building 55 of the ships.
The Navy has said it intends to keep building two variants beyond the first 24 ships. Some members of Congress have alleged having two variants is unnecessarily costly. The Navy argues the competition between the two contractors keeps costs down.
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