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Navy Commits to 20 New Ships

The U.S. Navy said Dec. 29 that it plans to buy up to 20 Littoral Combat Ships from two contractors over six years, splitting its buy between Lockheed Martin Corp. and Austal.

The move eventually affects San Diego’s ship repair community, as some of the ships will be based locally.

If all of the ships are funded, the value of the Lockheed contract will be $3.6 billion and the value of the Austal contract $3.5 billion.

The Navy’s originally stated plan was to choose between the two designs.

In its Dec. 29 announcement, the Navy said the average cost of both variants was $440 million per ship, adding that the figure includes government-furnished equipment and a margin for cost growth over five years.

Both vessels are small for Navy ships. The Lockheed design is 378 feet long, the Austal design 419 feet. Lockheed’s has a single hull made from steel. Austal’s is an aluminum trimaran, a ship with a large center hull and minor hulls to either side.

The ships are fast, capable of exceeding 40 knots, and able to operate in shallow waters, or littoral areas. The ships would carry containerized payloads adapting them for mine-hunting, submarine hunting or surface warfare. The payloads could be swapped depending on the ship’s assignment.

General Dynamics Corp. was prime contractor on the first two trimaran models, the USS Independence and USS Coronado. Austal USA, a unit of Australia-based Austal and a member of the General Dynamics team, will be prime contractor on the planned order of 10 trimarans.

— Brad Graves

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