Post by ferryfast admin on Oct 21, 2011 11:22:32 GMT -5
U.S. Navy 'very confident' in LCS program
Updated: Friday, October 21, 2011, 10:04 AM
By George Altman, Washington Bureau Press-Register
blog.al.com/live/2011/10/navy_very_confident_in_lcs.html
WASHINGTON — The first two littoral combat ships built for the U.S. Navy are working well, a top Navy official said Thursday, and despite some problems and criticism, he is "very confident" in the designs.
Rear Adm. James Murdoch said that the vessels, commonly referred to as LCS, are being slightly reconfigured to avoid corrosion problems that have arisen in recent months, but the cost of making these changes will be insignificant.
"The lead ships are pretty good. I think the LCS 3 and 4 ships are going to be better," Murdoch said. "We did a very good job of addressing problems that we saw emerge during the construction of the first two ships."
In a roundtable discussion with reporters at the Washington Navy Yard, Murdoch, head of the LCS Program Executive Office, addressed several concerns with the LCS program and emphasized that the price is right for taxpayers.
"I’ve got two great contracts in place to go build ships very affordably," Murdoch said, adding later, "I haven’t met too many people that don’t like the price."
In December, Congress approved a Navy plan to purchase 20 littoral combat ships — 10 tri-hulled, aluminum vessels built by Austal USA in Mobile and 10 traditional steel ships built by Lockheed Martin Corp.
The LCS contract when fully executed is valued at $3.6 billion for Austal and, along with another Navy contract for a high-speed transport vessel, is expected to nearly double employment at the 2,300-worker Mobile shipyard.
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An Austal official declined to comment on Thursday’s LCS roundtable.
Murdoch, who was chosen as leader of the Navy’s LCS office in May, said that the federal government’s current fiscal woes are a concern for him and his program, as they should be for any program dependent on federal dollars.
He said that costs for the first two ships "did come in at higher prices than I think any of us wanted to see," but he expects the costs to come down.
"What the Navy has to do, first and foremost, to maintain confidence in Congress and with the taxpayer, is to demonstrate that we can get better and better," Murdoch said.
Part of that effort will entail addressing rust and corrosion problems in the first two LCS. Murdoch said changes to paint coatings, pipes and even air conditioning units were being made to minimize future corrosion.
The USS Independence — the first LCS built in Mobile — required "too many labor hours" to build Murdoch said, so the construction process for future ships is being tweaked to be more efficient.
"I give credit to Bath (Iron Works) and particularly Austal for using better modular construction techniques," he said.
A key mission for Independence will be hunting and destroying mines at sea, Murdoch said, but it and other LCS are adaptable and can be employed for a variety of uses.
"You have at the moment, emerging, a ship class, which has two different designs in it and has relatively good speed capability, carries a fair amount of payload, good self-defense capability and good network and communications capability," Murdoch said. "We’re eager to go out and see what it can do."
_________________________
Updated: Friday, October 21, 2011, 10:04 AM
By George Altman, Washington Bureau Press-Register
blog.al.com/live/2011/10/navy_very_confident_in_lcs.html
WASHINGTON — The first two littoral combat ships built for the U.S. Navy are working well, a top Navy official said Thursday, and despite some problems and criticism, he is "very confident" in the designs.
Rear Adm. James Murdoch said that the vessels, commonly referred to as LCS, are being slightly reconfigured to avoid corrosion problems that have arisen in recent months, but the cost of making these changes will be insignificant.
"The lead ships are pretty good. I think the LCS 3 and 4 ships are going to be better," Murdoch said. "We did a very good job of addressing problems that we saw emerge during the construction of the first two ships."
In a roundtable discussion with reporters at the Washington Navy Yard, Murdoch, head of the LCS Program Executive Office, addressed several concerns with the LCS program and emphasized that the price is right for taxpayers.
"I’ve got two great contracts in place to go build ships very affordably," Murdoch said, adding later, "I haven’t met too many people that don’t like the price."
In December, Congress approved a Navy plan to purchase 20 littoral combat ships — 10 tri-hulled, aluminum vessels built by Austal USA in Mobile and 10 traditional steel ships built by Lockheed Martin Corp.
The LCS contract when fully executed is valued at $3.6 billion for Austal and, along with another Navy contract for a high-speed transport vessel, is expected to nearly double employment at the 2,300-worker Mobile shipyard.
Follow George Altman on Twitter
An Austal official declined to comment on Thursday’s LCS roundtable.
Murdoch, who was chosen as leader of the Navy’s LCS office in May, said that the federal government’s current fiscal woes are a concern for him and his program, as they should be for any program dependent on federal dollars.
He said that costs for the first two ships "did come in at higher prices than I think any of us wanted to see," but he expects the costs to come down.
"What the Navy has to do, first and foremost, to maintain confidence in Congress and with the taxpayer, is to demonstrate that we can get better and better," Murdoch said.
Part of that effort will entail addressing rust and corrosion problems in the first two LCS. Murdoch said changes to paint coatings, pipes and even air conditioning units were being made to minimize future corrosion.
The USS Independence — the first LCS built in Mobile — required "too many labor hours" to build Murdoch said, so the construction process for future ships is being tweaked to be more efficient.
"I give credit to Bath (Iron Works) and particularly Austal for using better modular construction techniques," he said.
A key mission for Independence will be hunting and destroying mines at sea, Murdoch said, but it and other LCS are adaptable and can be employed for a variety of uses.
"You have at the moment, emerging, a ship class, which has two different designs in it and has relatively good speed capability, carries a fair amount of payload, good self-defense capability and good network and communications capability," Murdoch said. "We’re eager to go out and see what it can do."
_________________________