March 20, 2020 | International, Naval
By: Aaron Mehta
WASHINGTON — In a letter to Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and acting Navy secretary Thomas Modly, the congressional delegation from Maine has requested quicker payments and relief from contractual obligations for the defense industrial base, including local shipyards, impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak.
In the letter sent Thursday, the delegation — Republican Sen. Susan Collin and Independent Sen. Angus King, as well as democratic Reps. Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden — warn that “the Department of Defense and the Navy must immediately act to protect our nation's defense industrial base, including our nation's shipyards.”
Maine is home to Bath Iron Works, owned by General Dynamics, which produces both the Zumwalt and Arleigh Burke class destroyers.
The delegation has three key demands. The first is for the department to “work to mitigate cash flow and other financial burdens” on contractors and subcontractors as a result of the outbreak, “to include relief from contracting requirements that are uniquely impacted by COVID-19.”
The contract relief being sought involves waiving schedule and price requirements in case delivery times are impacted by loss of workforce due to coronavirus-inflicted travel bans, closures, quarantines or travel restrictions. It could also potentially give cover should a subcontractor be unable to deliver a part on time.
Second, to take “any actions possible to accelerate or advance payments or new contract obligations in order to provide immediate stability to the industrial base.” The lawmakers offer to “immediately assist” the department if additional funding or “new legal authorities” are needed to make such sped-up payments possible.
And third, the delegation calls for the department to clarify “planning and public guidance to ensure a stable industrial base while also ensuring the health and safety of the defense industrial base workforce” — that is, to make clear what workers must stay at work, and which could potentially work from home.
A spokesman for General Dynamics told Defense News earlier this week that they are allowing anyone who can work from home to do so, while curtailing travel and pausing participation in trade shows.
“An outbreak of COVID-19 at one of our nation's shipyards or other large defense contractors could truly be devastating to our national defense,” the delegation writes. “We ask you to work with and support industry to take all the necessary protective actions.”
King is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, while Collins sits on the appropriations defense subcommittee. Pingree is a member of the House Appropriations Committee while Golden is on the House Armed Services Committee. It is expected that Collins, at least, will be speaking directly to Modly about the issue in the near future.
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November 24, 2020 | International, Naval
Posted on November 23, 2020 by Richard R. Burgess, Senior Editor ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy has ordered two more Surface-to-Surface Missile Modules (SSMMs) for integration into the Surface Warfare Mission Package of the littoral combat ships, bring to four the number of SSMMs on order. The Naval Sea Systems Command awarded Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. a 10.7 million firm-fixed-price contract modification for two additional SSMM systems for delivery by November 2022, a Nov. 20 Defense Department contract announcement said. The SSMM is a modular weapons system that fires Lockheed Martin-built AGM-114L Longbow Hellfire missiles from launchers built by Teledyne Brown Engineering. Each launcher houses a total of 24 missiles. A prototype launcher has demonstrated the capability to defend against multiple swarming Fast Attack Craft/Fast Inshore Attack Craft (FAC/FIAC). During one test, a volley of six missiles were launched in rapid succession from an LCS, successfully destroying a swarm of six high-speed targets. More than 100 missiles have been fired to date with a greater than 90% successful engagement rate. The SSMM achieved Initial Operational Capability on the Freedom-variant LCS in February 2019 and was deployed on USS Detroit in November 2019. Northrop Grumman is under contract to build four SSMM systems so far. The Navy has a requirement for 12 SSMM systems. https://seapowermagazine.org/navy-orders-two-hellfire-ssmm-systems-for-lcs/