Costs Down for Third LCS

By JOHN C. MARCARIO, Assistant Editor

Lockheed Martin said production costs for the third Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), USS Fort Worth, is 30 percent less than the first LCS, Independence. Budget documents for the first LCS said it cost $637 million.

"The [USS Fort Worth] meets and exceeds all of the requirements the Navy has," Paul Lemmo, vice president of business development, said at a media briefing during the Navy League's 2010 Sea-Air-Space Exposition at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, National Harbor, Md.

In April, Lockheed Martin submitted a proposal for the LCS fiscal 2010-2014 contract to the Navy. General Dynamics also is competing for the contract, which is a fixed-price, incentive fee contract to provide up to 10 ships as well as combat systems for five additional ships. Two of the 10 ships would be acquired in fiscal 2010 and the rest via options through fiscal 2014.

In 2009, Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates said the Department of Defense has a goal of purchasing 55 LCSs.

Despite it's vast drug interdiction capabilities, Lammo said he has not heard anything from the Coast Guard about acquiring information on possibly purchasing one. Drug interdiction is a primary responsibility of the Coast Guard.

"I'd love the opportunity to paint one white," said Joe North, director of the LCS program. North said Coast Guard personnel have ridden on an LCS during missions and wrote a report about their findings. The report was given to service leaders.