Navy Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Program

Navy Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Program
Author: Ronald O'Rourke
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
Total Pages: 65
Release: 2011-05
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1437938841
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The LCS is a relatively inexpensive Navy surface combatant equipped with modular ¿plug-and-fight¿ mission packages. The basic version of the LCS, without any mission packages, is referred to as the LCS sea frame. The Navy wants to field a force of 55 LCSs. Contents of this report: (1) Intro.; (2) Background: The LCS in General; Two Industry Teams, Each with Its Own Design; Planned Procurement Quantities; (3) Issues for Congress: New Acquisition Strategy Announced in 9/09; Unit Procurement Cost Cap; Total Program Acquisition Cost; (4) Legislative Activity for FY 2011. Appendices: Cost Growth on LCS Sea Frames; LCS Acquisition Strategy Announced in 9/09. Charts and tables. This is a print on demand publication.

Navy Littoral Combat Ship (Lcs) Program

Navy Littoral Combat Ship (Lcs) Program
Author: Ronald O'Rourke
Publisher: CreateSpace
Total Pages: 106
Release: 2014-10-31
Genre:
ISBN: 9781503000520
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A total of 20 Littoral Combat Ships (LCSs) have been funded through FY2014. The Navy had been planning to procure an eventual total of 52 LCSs, but on February 24, 2014, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced that "no new contract negotiations beyond 32 ships will go forward" and that the Navy is to submit "alternative proposals to procure a capable and lethal small surface combatant, generally consistent with the capabilities of a frigate. I've directed the Navy to consider a completely new design, existing ship designs, and a modified LCS."

Navy Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Program: Background, Oversight Issues, and Options for Congress

Navy Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Program: Background, Oversight Issues, and Options for Congress
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 42
Release: 2007
Genre:
ISBN:
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The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) is a small, fast ship that uses modular plug-and-fight mission packages, including unmanned vehicles (UVs). The basic version of the LCS, without any mission packages, is referred to as the LCS sea frame. The first LCS was procured in FY2005, another three were procured in FY2006, and two more were procured in FY2007. The Navy's proposed FY2008 budget, submitted to Congress in February 2007, requested $910.5 million in procurement funding for three more LCSs. Navy plans call for procuring a total of 55 LCSs. In response to significant cost growth in the building of the first LCSs, the Navy in March 2007 announced a proposed plan for restructuring the LCS program. On April 12, 2007, the Navy announced that the Navy and Lockheed could not reach an agreement on a restructured contract for LCS-1 and LCS-3 and that the Navy consequently was terminating construction of LCS-3. On May 10, 2007, it was reported that the Navy would ask Congress to increase the procurement cost cap for the fifth and sixth LCSs to $460 million each in FY2008 dollars. A primary issue for Congress at this point is whether to approve, reject, or modify the Navy's proposed restructuring plan, and what additional actions, if any, should be taken in response to the Navy's decision to terminate construction of LCS-3. Congress has several potential options regarding the LCS program. This report will be updated as events warrant.

Navy Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Program

Navy Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Program
Author: Ronald O'Rourke
Publisher:
Total Pages: 54
Release: 2010
Genre: United States
ISBN:
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The Navy is procuring a new type of surface combatant called the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). The LCS is a small, fast, relatively inexpensive combat ship that is to be equipped with modular "plug-and-fight" mission packages. The basic version of the LCS, without any mission packages, is referred to the LCS sea frame. The Navy wants to procure a total of 55 LCSs.

Littoral Combat Ships

Littoral Combat Ships
Author: Brien Alkire
Publisher: Rand Corporation
Total Pages: 159
Release: 2007
Genre: History
ISBN: 0833041460
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Alkire et al. provide a clear understanding of the operational, logistics, and cost trade-offs between three interdependent elements of the Navy's Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program: the number of LCSs in the fleet, the number of mission packages that those LCSs would require in order to perform a range of missions, and the number and locations of LCS homeports and mission package installation sites.

Navy Littoral Combat Ship (Lcs) Program

Navy Littoral Combat Ship (Lcs) Program
Author: Congressional Research Congressional Research Service
Publisher: CreateSpace
Total Pages: 120
Release: 2014-12-24
Genre:
ISBN: 9781505904871
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The Navy had been planning to procure an eventual total of 52 LCSs, but on February 24, 2014, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced that "no new contract negotiations beyond 32 ships will go forward" and that the Navy is to submit "alternative proposals to procure a capable and lethal small surface combatant, generally consistent with the capabilities of a frigate. I've directed the Navy to consider a completely new design, existing ship designs, and a modified LCS." Following Hagel's February 24, 2014, announcement, the Navy began an internal study of options for small surface combatants (SSCs) to be procured following the 32 LCSs. The Navy states that study was completed on July 31, 2014, as required. On December 10, 2014, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, after reviewing the Navy's work, approved a Navy plan to procure an SSC based on an upgraded version of the two LCS designs. The upgrade includes additional equipment for air defense, surface warfare, and antisubmarine warfare, plus some other changes. The Navy estimates that the changes will increase the cost of each LCS by $60 million to $75 million. The Navy states that it is now starting to develop an acquisition strategy for procuring the 20 modified LCSs. LCSs have been procured since FY2010 under a pair of 10-ship, fixed-price incentive (FPI) block buy contracts that the Navy awarded to the two LCS builders-Lockheed and Austal USA-on December 29, 2010. Under these contracts, which cover the years FY2010-FY2015, four LCSs (numbers 21 through 24) were to be requested for procurement in FY2015. The Navy's proposed FY2015 budget, however, requests funding for the procurement of three rather than four LCSs. Hagel's February 24 announcement and the Navy's request for three rather than four LCSs in FY2015 raise several potential oversight issues for Congress, including the Navy's plan for determining which of the two LCS builders would receive one LCS in FY2015 rather than two, and the analytical basis for the actions affecting the LCS program announced by Hagel on February 24. The LCS program has been controversial due to past cost growth, design and construction issues with the lead ships built to each design, concerns over the ships' survivability (i.e., ability to withstand battle damage), and concerns over whether the ships are sufficiently armed and would be able to perform their stated missions effectively. Prior to Secretary Hagel's February 24, 2014, announcement, some observers, citing one or more of these issues, had proposed truncating the LCS program. In response to criticisms of the LCS program, the Navy has acknowledged certain problems and stated that it was taking action to correct them, and disputed other arguments made against the program.

Navy Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Program

Navy Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Program
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 47
Release: 2008
Genre: Shipbuilding
ISBN:
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The Navy is procuring a new type of surface combatant called the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). The Navy substantially restructured the LCS program in 2007 in response to significant cost growth and schedule delays in the program. The Navy's proposed FY2009 budget requests $920 million in procurement funding for the procurement of two LCSs, which would be the fourth and fifth ships in the restructured LCS program. The LCS is a small, fast, relatively inexpensive combat ship that is to be equipped with modular "plug-and-fight" mission packages, including unmanned vehicles (UVs). The basic version of the LCS, without any mission packages, is referred to as the LCS sea frame. The Navy wants to procure a total of 55 LCSs. Congress originally funded a total of six LCS sea frames (LCSs 1 through 6) in the FY2005, FY2006, and FY2007 defense budgets. In 2007, as Congress was considering the proposed FY2008 defense budget, the Navy canceled LCSs 3 though 6 as part of its restructuring of the program, leaving only LCSs 1 and 2 under construction. As part of its final action on the FY2008 defense budget, Congress did the following: accepted the Navy's cancellation of LCSs 3 through 6; funded the procurement one additional LCS in FY2008 (LCS-5); significantly reduced the Navy's FY2008 funding request for the LCS program; amended the LCS sea frame unit procurement cost cap; required the Navy to use fixed-price-type contracts for the construction of LCSs procured in FY2008 and subsequent years; criticized the execution of the LCS program; expressed concerns for the program; and expressed support for continuing with the program in restructured form. The issue for Congress for FY2009 is whether to approve, reject, or modify the Navy's restructured LCS program. The LCS program raises potential oversight issues for Congress relating to cost growth, total program acquisition cost, procurement cost cap, technical risk, and operational evaluation and competition for production.

Navy Littoral Combat Ship (Lcs) Program

Navy Littoral Combat Ship (Lcs) Program
Author: Congressional Service
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 28
Release: 2018-07-19
Genre:
ISBN: 9781723287558
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The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) is a relatively inexpensive surface combatant equipped with modular mission packages. Navy plans call for procuring a total of 32 LCSs. The first LCS was procured in FY2005, and the Navy's proposed FY2018 budget requested the procurement of the 30th and 31st LCSs. As part of its action on the Navy's proposed FY2018 budget, Congress procured three LCSs-one more than the two that were requested. Thus, a total of 32 LCSs have been procured through FY2018. The Navy's proposed FY2019 budget, which was submitted to Congress before Congress finalized action on the Navy's FY2018 budget, requests $646.2 million for the procurement of one LCS. If Congress had procured two LCSs in FY2018, as requested by the Navy, the LCS requested for procurement in FY2019 would have been the 32nd LCS. With the procurement of three LCSs in FY2018, the LCS requested for procurement in FY2019 would be the 33rd LCS. The Navy's plan for achieving and maintaining a 355-ship fleet includes a goal for achieving and maintaining a force of 52 small surface combatants (SSCs). The Navy's plan for achieving that goal is to procure 32 LCSs, and then procure 20 new frigates, called FFG(X)s, with the first FFG(X) to be procured in FY2020. Multiple industry teams are now competing for the FFG(X) program. The design of the FFG(X) is to be based on either an LCS design or a different existing hull design. The FFG(X) program is covered in another CRS report. The LCS program includes two very different LCS designs. One was developed by an industry team led by Lockheed; the other was developed by an industry team that was then led by General Dynamics. LCS procurement has been divided evenly between the two designs. The design developed by the Lockheed-led team is built at the Marinette Marine shipyard at Marinette, WI, with Lockheed as the prime contractor; the design developed by the team that was led by General Dynamics is built at the Austal USA shipyard at Mobile, AL, with Austal USA as the prime contractor. The LCS program has been controversial over the years due to past cost growth, design and construction issues with the first LCSs, concerns over the survivability of LCSs (i.e., their ability to withstand battle damage), concerns over whether LCSs are sufficiently armed and would be able to perform their stated missions effectively, and concerns over the development and testing of the modular mission packages for LCSs. The Navy's execution of the program has been a matter of congressional oversight attention for several years. Issues for Congress for the LCS program for FY2019 include the following: the number of LCSs to procure in FY2019; the Navy's proposal to procure a final LCS in FY2019 and then shift to procurement of FFG(X)s starting in FY2020; and survivability, lethality, technical risk, and test and evaluation issues relating to LCSs and their mission packages.

Navy Littoral Combat Ship Lcs/Frigate Program

Navy Littoral Combat Ship Lcs/Frigate Program
Author: Congressional Research Service
Publisher: CreateSpace
Total Pages: 42
Release: 2015-02-09
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9781508433347
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The Navy's Littoral Combat Ship (LCS)/Frigate program is a program to procure 52 LCSs and frigates. The first LCS was funded in FY2005, and a total of 23 have been funded through FY2015. The Navy's proposed FY2016 budget requests $1,437.0 million for the procurement of three more LCSs, or an average of $479.0 million each. From 2001 to 2014, the program was known simply as the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program, and all 52 planned ships were referred to as LCSs. In 2014, at the direction of Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, the program was restructured. As a result of the restructuring, the Navy now wants to build the final 20 ships in the program (ships 33 through 52) to a revised version of the baseline LCS design. The Navy intends to refer to these 20 ships, which the Navy wants to procure in FY2019 and subsequent fiscal years, as frigates rather than LCSs. The Navy has indicated that it may also want to build ships 25 through 32 with at least some of the design changes now intended for the final 20 ships. The Navy wants to procure ships 25 through 32 in FY2016-FY2018. Two very different baseline LCS designs are being built. One was developed by an industry team led by Lockheed; the other was developed by an industry team that was led by General Dynamics. The Lockheed design is built at the Marinette Marine shipyard at Marinette, WI; the General Dynamics design is built at the Austal USA shipyard at Mobile, AL. Ships 5 through 24 in the program are being procured under a pair of 10-ship block buy contracts that were awarded to the two LCS builders in December 2010. The 24th LCS—the first of the three LCSs expected to be requested for procurement in FY2016—is the final ship to be procured under these block buy contracts. The LCS program has been controversial due to past cost growth, design and construction issues with the lead ships built to each design, concerns over the ships' survivability (i.e., ability to withstand battle damage), concerns over whether the ships are sufficiently armed and would be able to perform their stated missions effectively, and concerns over the development and testing of the ships' modular mission packages. The Navy's execution of the program has been a matter of congressional oversight attention for several years. The program's restructuring in 2014 raises additional oversight issues for Congress.

Crs Report for Congress

Crs Report for Congress
Author: Congressional Research Service: The Libr
Publisher: BiblioGov
Total Pages: 66
Release: 2013-10
Genre:
ISBN: 9781294021322
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The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) is a relatively inexpensive Navy surface combatant equipped with modular "plug-and-fight" mission packages. The Navy wants to field a force of 55 LCSs. The first two (LCS-1 and LCS-2) were procured in FY2005 and FY2006 and were commissioned into service on November 8, 2008, and January 16, 2010. Another two (LCS-3 and LCS-4) were procured in FY2009 and are under construction. Two more were procured in FY2010, and the Navy's proposed FY2011 budget requested funding to procure another two. Navy plans call for procuring an additional 16 in FY2012-FY2015 at a rate of four ships per year. There are two very different LCS designs--one developed and produced by an industry team led by Lockheed, and another developed and produced by an industry team led by General Dynamics. LCS-1 and LCS-3 use the Lockheed design; LCS-2 and LCS-4 use the General Dynamics design. On September 16, 2009, the Navy announced a proposed acquisition strategy under which the Navy would hold a competition to pick a single design to which all LCSs procured in FY2010 and subsequent years would be built (i.e., carry out a design "down select"). The winner of the down select would be awarded ...