Littoral Combat Ship moving closer to reality: Navy keeps options open, could end up buying two different LCS hullforms.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.

For the U.S. Army, transformation is about a family of vehicles called "Future Combat System." For the Navy, it's about a fleet of small fighting vessels named "Littoral Combat Ships."

The Navy envisions LCS operating close to enemy shores, clearing mines, chasing diesel submarines and potential terrorists, and ferrying special-operations forces. It will travel at speeds of up to 50 knots. At least two helicopters or unmanned aircraft will operate from the LCS deck.

Contractor proposals for LCS are due April 14. By August or September, the Navy plans to select up to three industry teams, each of whom will receive a $10 million contract for a seven-month design phase.

The program is on a fast-track schedule. The Navy wants a ship in the water by 2007, a goal that some observers believe is unrealistic. Whoever wins the design competition will have to deliver two Flight 0 ships--one by fiscal year 2005 and the other by 2006, said Jim Heller, the LCS program manager. Those two ships may not be of the same hullform, he said.

Beyond Flight 0, the picture gets murky. Even though the chief of naval operations Adm. Vernon Clark has said the Navy could buy up to 60 ships, industry sources expressed concern about an acquisition strategy that calls for the award of only two ships, without specifying whether the winner of Flight 0 will be guaranteed any subsequent orders for Flight 1, for example.

The Defense Department's budget has $4 billion for LCS between 2004 and 2009--one ship in 2005, one in 2006, three in 2008 and four in 2009.

Each LCS hull must cost no more than $220 million, in 2005 dollars. The "objective cost," the price the Navy wishes for, is $150 million.

That cost estimate, however, may be premature, said Cynthia L. Brown, president of the American Shipbuilding Association. "It's too early to know the exact cost until the Navy identifies all the requirements," she said. "They put the number out as a target," but the price could change, once the specifications are refined further.

Navy officials have described the LCS as a member of a futuristic family of ships that includes the DDX land-attack destroyer and the CGX next-generation guided-missile cruiser. They stressed that by no means should the LCS be considered a replacement for the DDX, as critics have speculated. "The operational concepts for DDX and LCS, although complementary; are fairly different," said Rear Adm. Charles Hamilton, program executive officer for Navy ships. The...