A recent Navy notice said the service intends to issue a solicitation to HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding [HII] for long-lead time material and detail design and construction for three more San Antonio
-class Flight II amphibious transport dock ships.
A presolicitation published Aug. 4 said the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) intends to issue the solicitation for LPDs 33-35 as part of the LX(R) requirement developed to replace the aging Whidbey Island/Harpers Ferry-class amphibious transport dock ships.
In 2018, the Navy selected HII for the LX(R) program with the San Antonio-class Fight II variant (Defense Daily, April 12, 2018).
The notice said LPDs 33-35 will be follow-on ships to LPD-30 as the lead San Antonio–class Flight II vessel.
This comes after the Navy declined to include LPD-type ships in its future procurement plans in the FY ‘24 budget process past LPD-32 due to an Office of the Secretary of Defense-directed review seeking to lower the costs of the newer LPD variants (Defense Daily, April 18).
In March, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said the Flight II ships were trending toward costing almost as much as a Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, but he hoped the procurement pause and amphibious study would be done by June or September (Defense Daily, March 15).
The notice said since HII is the designer, builder and life cycle engineering and support provider for the San Antonio-class Flight I and lead Flight II ships it is the “only source with the requisite knowledge and experience required to construct LPD 33-35.”
Unsurprisingly, the Navy is not interested in pursuing alternative sources via competition since it “would result in significant duplication of costs and unacceptable delays due to the loss of design expertise and production efficiencies achieved on the previous 16 ships that cannot be recovered on LPD 33-35.”
The Navy notice said the main purpose of the notice is to improve small business access of acquisition information and aid competition “by identifying subcontracting opportunities.”
Many in Congress have criticized the Navy for at least pausing planning to procure more of these amphibious ships.
The Senate’s version of the fiscal year 2024 defense authorization bill has a provision that would restrict 50 percent of the FY ‘24 Navy Navy Administration and Service-wide Activities, Operation and Maintenance account until the Navy Secretary submits a new 30-year shipbuilding plan that meets statutory requirements to maintain 31 amphibious ships (Defense Daily, July 12).
The bill also includes an approval for LPD-33 at $1.9 billion, over the administration’s FY ‘24 budget request but in line with the Marine Corps’ unfunded requirements list. The House defense policy bill also approves of moving forward with LPD-33 (Defense Daily, March 21).
The Navy officially contracted HII to buy LPD-32 this year and the shipbuilder has said the current ideal cadence to keep the production line running well is one ship every two years, meaning LPD-33 or a new variant would ideally be bought by FY ‘25.