Lockheed-Martin and General Dynamics Awarded LCS Contracts

Released on Thursday, May 27, 2004

The Department of Defense selected Lockheed-Martin Maritime Systems & Sensors and General Dynamics Bath Iron Works have been awarded contract options for final detail design of Flight 0 Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) and construction of up to two vessels.

Lockheed-Martin will receive $46.5 million and General Dynamics approximately $79 million. The contract including options for two LCS ships is worth as high as 423 million.

The General Dynamic's approach selected by the Navy features a trimaran hull capable of traveling at cruise speeds of 50 knots and ranges of up to 10,000 nautical miles. The crew required to operate this new breed ship would be fewer than 40 sailors. Lockheed-Martin's design uses a semi-planing monohull to provide exceptionally high performance and maneuverability.

The LCS is intended to address asymmetric threats such as terrorism, coastal diesel submarines, mines and fast attack boats. A single ship of this class will be able to support several missions simultaneously, over-the-horizon missions thanks to global networked communications and simultaneous and concurrent of two large MH-60 helicopters as well as smaller unmanned aircraft such as Fire Scout.

Other key characteristics of the LCS are: stealth technology for increased ship and crew survivability, shallow draft for operations near the shore (13 feet / 4-meter of water), more payload per ton than any previous US Navy warship, availability for longer endurance missions and huge interior volume to better accommodate mission modules.

The first ship construction will begin in January 2005 at Marinette Marine and the launch date is expected in late 2006. Construction of the second LCS could begin in 2006 at Bollinger Shipyards. The US Navy expects to announce a decision on additional Flight 1 ships in 2007.