By Emelie Rutherford
Despite budget delays impacting is shipbuilding programs, the Navy is committed to buying the next-generation Landing Ship Dock (LSD) amphibious vessels in six years, a top service official said.
“We’re firm in the 2017 requirement for start of procurement for LSD(X),” Navy acquisition chief Sean Stackley told lawmakers last week.
The Navy currently is planning mid-life upgrades on its LSD-41 Whidbey Island-class of the amphibious ships, work that Stackley told the House Armed Services Seapower and Projection Forces subcommittee is a “high priority inside of our budget to ensure that we are able to not just sustain them to their service life, but ensure that they’re both mission-effective and affordable in terms of upkeep and maintenance through the balance of their service life.”
However, because Congress has not yet passed a defense appropriations bill for fiscal year 2011, which began last October, the Navy has canceled shipbuilding availabilities on vessels including those in the LSD-41 class.
Stackley, though, testifying on March 16, still stuck by the 2017 date for LSD(X), a schedule that is tied in with other amphibious ship efforts, including the delayed LHA-6 America-class amphibious-assault ships.
Work by Northrop Grumman [NOC] on the first LHA-6 has taken longer than planned, and funding for the next ship in the new class, LHA-7, has been stalled because of the lack of a FY ’11 defense appropriations bill, he said. The Navy decided to extend the service life of the USS Peleliu (LHA-5) to minimize a gap in large-deck amphibious ships; however, its maintenance availability was canceled recently because of the FY ’11 budget delay in Congress.
Looking ahead, the Navy plans for the LHA-8 America-class vessel to have a well deck like those on past big-deck amphibious ships.
Summing up these varying efforts, Stackley told the panel: “So, today, while we build the LHA-6, negotiate and work around the budgets associated with the LHA-7, we are going through a mini-analysis of alternatives for the best method for restoring well deck to our big decks to support that 2016 (LHA-8) ship and then as well you’ll see the advance procurement preceding that in the (FY) ’12 (future years defense plan) FYDP.”
The Navy, he said, is “in fact looking at the total force lift requirements in terms of lift capabilities by platform.”
“As we complete the LHA- 8, where we restore the well deck and we look at the capabilities assessment that the Marine Corps is completing for future force requirements…then when we look at the balance of the force, that then defines what lift capability the LSD(X) has to have.”
He added: “So the sequence of events is complete the LHA-8 in terms of its…mini-analysis of alternatives, get the balance of the lift capability required by the LSD(X), conduct that analysis of alternatives and then get into the (early technology development) TD phase for LSD(X).”