28 septembre 2018 | International, Naval
By: Megan Eckstein
The Navy awarded six of its next Arleigh Burke-class destroyers to Ingalls Shipbuilding and four to General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, in a combined $9-billion purchase right at the end of the fiscal year.
The two companies had been competing for work in a five-year multiyear procurement (MYP) deal that would cover at least 10 Flight III destroyers. The contracts span Fiscals Years 2018 – which ends on Sunday – through 2022.
“These contract awards are further evidence of the Navy's continued delivery of lethal capacity to the nation with a sense of urgency while ensuring best value for the taxpayer,” Navy acquisition chief James Geurts said in a Navy news release.
“The Navy saved $700 million for these 10 ships by using multiyear procurement contracts rather than a single year contracting approach. We also have options for an additional five DDG 51s to enable us to continue to accelerate delivery of the outstanding DDG 51 Flight III capabilities to our Naval force. We executed this competition on a quick timeline that reflects the urgency in which the Navy and our industry partners are operating to ensure we meet the demands of the National Defense Strategy.”
Ingalls Industries' contract is worth $5.1 billion and covers two ships in FY 2018 and one a year in FY 2019 through 2022. It also includes options for additional ships, which may be subject to a future competition with BIW.
Bath Iron Works' contract is valued at $3.9 billion and covers one ship a year in 2019 through 2022 – and none in the short-term in 2018.
According to the Navy statement, “each shipbuilder's contract contains options for additional ships in FY18/19/20/21/22, providing the Navy and/or Congress flexibility to increase DDG 51 build rates above the 10 MYP ships in the Navy's FY 2018 budget request, if appropriated.”
Lawmakers in the House and Senate armed services committees have pushed for faster acquisition of the destroyers, and in the FY 2018 National Defense Authorization Act they authorized the Navy to enter into a multiyear procurement contract with the two builders for as many as 15 destroyers – three a year, compared to the previous shipbuilding rate of two a year.
The lawmakers on the appropriations committees only provided money to buy two ships in 2018, but they did fund three DDGs in the 2019 spending bill, which the Senate passed last week and the House passed this week. It is unclear if that third ship in FY 2019 would have to be competitively awarded or if the Navy would be allowed to select a shipyard based on schedule, performance or other factors – the contract announcement notes the options “may” be subject to a competitive process. Program officials had been mum during the competition on their acquisition strategy and how to handle options for additional ships.
All the ships covered under this pair of contracts is for the Flight III configuration, which is built around the powerful AN/SPY-6(v) Air and Missile Defense Radar.
“This procurement will efficiently provide Integrated Air and Missile Defense capability for our future fleet while strengthening our critical shipbuilding and defense industrial base,” DDG-51 program manager Capt. Casey Moton said in the news release.
“The Navy is proud to be working alongside the dedicated shipbuilders at BIW and Ingalls to continue to deliver these warships to the fleet.”
Moton told USNI News in a December 2017 interview that the contracts would be structured in such a way that additional ships – beyond the previous two-a-year rate – could be added easily if the Navy deemed it a priority in its spending request or if lawmakers wanted to add in more funding.
With this contract award, the two shipyards – who, for a time after the production line had restarted remained neck-and-neck on contract awards and deliveries – will further diverge. Ingalls Shipbuilding was awarded a contract in June 2017 to begin work on its first Flight III ship, DDG-125. Two months later, Bath Iron Works was awarded a contract that would have the yard build DDG-126 with a Flight III configuration but DDG-127 in the older Flight IIA design, like the rest of the ships in the previous multiyear procurement contract.
Though Navy and congressional officials would not comment while the competition was occurring, Bath Iron Works had been challenged to balance the Arleigh Burke-class program and the DDG-1000 Zumwalt-class destroyer program. Keeping DDG-127 – which Congress incrementally funded in FY 2016 and 2016 – at the Flight IIA design would help ease the yard into Flight III production. The yard will not be building any new destroyers in FY 2018, according to the contract announcement, whereas Ingalls will take on two Flight III ships.
2 novembre 2023 | International, Aérospatial
Canada's Bombardier reported third-quarter results on Thursday that beat analysts' estimates, helped by robust demand for its pricier business jets and aftermarket services, sending shares up 9% in morning trade.
29 mai 2020 | International, Aérospatial
By: Tom Kington ROME – Italy's defense minister has thrown his weight behind the F-35 program to counter demands from within his coalition government to suspend purchases of the aircraft to help Italy's coronavirus-stricken economy. Lorenzo Guerini said he “confirmed that the program would continue,” after calls from Italy's Five Star party to halt F-35 purchases for a year as Italy seeks cash to help rebound from the virus, which has killed 33,000 in Italy. In an interview with Italian publication Formiche, Guerini said defense spending was often slashed during economic crises, but claimed cuts to Italy's planned 90-aircraft buy would hurt high-tech jobs and damage an industrial sector which “offers very significant economic returns to our nation.” Italy has currently taken delivery of 15 F-35 aircraft including 12 F-35A's and three F-35B's. Final assembly of the aircraft occurs at Italy's own facility at Cameri Air Base in the north of the country, which is due to become a maintenance hub for the aircraft. Guerini hails from the center-left Democratic Party, which is a minority partner with the Five Star party in a coalition government formed last year. Previously, Five Star had governed alongside the anti-migrant League party. Five Star has had a turbulent relationship with the F-35 program. Prior to first entering government in 2018 it vowed to scrap the program altogether, before giving ambiguous signals about the aircraft once it was in power. Italy's coronavirus outbreak, which started in late February and prompted a strict, nationwide shut-down, has only now eased, with most restrictions on movement dropped on May 18. But after two months of lockdown the economy is in tatters, from manufacturing to services to tourism, which accounts for 13 percent of GDP. The government has been slow off the mark to pay furlough wages and economists see GDP shrinking by up to ten percent this year. In late March, 50 Five Star members of parliament signed a motion backing a suspension of ongoing F-35 purchases for one year to free cash for health spending. “We would also consider renegotiating and resizing this program,” one Five Star member in the group said at the time. In his interview, Guerini backed F-35 but also supported Italy's historical alliance with the United States and NATO, which was thrown into doubt by an April poll asking Italians which countries they considered “Friends”. Some 52 percent indicated China, followed by Russia on 32 percent and the United States on 17 percent. Compared to a similar survey carried out in 2019, China leaped 42 percent, Russia by 17 percent, while the U.S. dropped 12 percent. Asked which country Italy should ally with in the future, 36 percent said China while only 30 percent said the United States. The survey followed very visible visits by Chinese and Russian doctors to Italy to help during the virus outbreak. Last year, Italy announced plans to sign up to China's controversial Belt and Road global trade routes plan, incurring criticism from U.S. diplomats, who warned the program was designed to help China more than its partners. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2020/05/28/italy-defense-minister-commits-to-f-35-after-calls-to-suspend-program/
30 janvier 2019 | International, Aérospatial
By: Ben Werner Lockheed Martin is committed to producing the F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter for $80 million each by next year and further reducing the overall program costs as part of the next production contract negotiations with the Department of Defense, the company said on Tuesday In 2022, Lockheed Martin officials expect to negotiate the next multiyear F-35 contract with the Joint Program Office. The goal is to use the steady cash flow from a multiyear contract to drive down further the production costs once the contract kicks in. As part of a pitch for multiyear contract, Lockheed Martin officials say such a deal will lower the F-35A price to less than $80 million per fighter, Marillyn Hewson, chief executive of Lockheed Martin, told analysts during a conference call today discussing the company's 2018 year-end results and expectations for 2019. “That's our target, to continue to drive the unit cost down,” Hewson said. “And we won't stop there, we will always be looking at ways that we can take the cost down in the program as it continues to mature and grows.” Currently, the F-35A, the standard take-off and landing variant primarily used by the U.S. Air Force and foreign partners, has a price tag of $89.2 million. The F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing variant used by the Marine Corps and some foreign partners currently cost $115.5 million each, and the F-35C carrier variant used by the Navy cost $107.7 million per fighter, according to Lockheed Martin. As production increases, the price per F-35 is expected to decrease due to efficiencies in the production process and the ability to lock in lower prices for large quantities of raw materials and components. Lockheed Martin plans to deliver 131 fighters this year, compared to the 91 F-35 fighters delivered in 2018. Within two years, company officials expect to deliver more than 161 fighters per year. However, with F-35 production is closing in on what's considered the full capacity for the program of record, Hewson said the company could build more. Increasing the production rate would require coordination with the JPO, the supply chain and international customers, but Hewson said the company could handle increased demand. Germany, Switzerland and Finland are currently considering buying the F-35, Hewson said. Already the U.S. and 12 other countries are either part of the program of record or committed to purchasing F-35 fighters, according to Lockheed Martin. “We could certainly go to a higher rate if the demand were such that we needed to do that,” Hewson said. Other segments of Lockheed Martin's weapons systems portfolio are also expected to perform well in 2019. The company's Missiles and Fire Control business are expected to record a profit of between $1.3 billion and $1.4 billion in the year. The Rotary and Mission Systems business is expected to record a profit of about $1.3 billion for the year, Bruce Tanner, Lockheed Martin's chief financial officer, said during the call. After the call, the U.S. Department of State's Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced it approved the sale of two Aegis Weapon Systems, two Multi-Mission Signal Processors and two Command and Control Processor refreshes to Japan. Lockheed Martin's Rotary and Mission Systems division is the prime contractor for the Aegis Weapon System and Multi-Mission Signal Processor portion of the $2.1-billion total buy. Japan selected Lockheed Martin in July to outfit its Aegis Ashore system but needed State Department approval before finalizing the deal. In September, the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force successfully tested its sea-based Aegis ballistic missile defense capability with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. Japan currently has four Aegis-equipped destroyers and is in the process of building two more. The following is the State Department notice it approved a proposed Aegis Weapon System sale to Japan. AEGIS Weapon Systems Transmittal No: 19-08 WASHINGTON, January 29, 2019 – The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to Japan of two (2) AEGIS Weapon Systems (AWS), two (2) Multi-Mission Signal Processors (MMSP) and two (2) Command and Control Processor (C2P) Refreshes and related equipment for an estimated cost of $2.150 billion. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale today. The Government of Japan has requested to buy two (2) AEGIS Weapon Systems (AWS), two (2) Multi-Mission Signal Processors (MMSP) and two (2) Command and Control Processor (C2P) Refreshes. Also included is radio navigation equipment, naval ordnance, two (2) Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) Systems, Global Command and Control System-Maritime (GCCS-M) hardware, and two (2) Inertial Navigation Systems (INS), U.S. Government and contractor representatives' technical, engineering and logistics support services, installation support material, training, construction services for six (6) vertical launch system launcher module enclosures, communications equipment and associated spares, classified and unclassified publications and software, and other related elements of logistical and program support. The total estimated program cost is $2.150 billion. This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by improving the security of a major ally that is a force for political stability and economic progress in the Asia-Pacific region. It is vital to U.S. national interests to assist Japan in developing and maintaining a strong and effective self-defense capability. This proposed sale will provide the Government of Japan with an enhanced capability against increasingly sophisticated ballistic missile threats and create an expanded, layered defense of its homeland. Japan, which already has the AEGIS in its inventory, will have no difficulty absorbing this system into its armed forces. The proposed sale of this equipment and support does not alter the basic military balance in the region. The prime contractor for the Aegis Weapon System and Multi-Mission Signal Processors will be Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, Washington, DC. The Command and Control Processor Refresh will be provided by General Dynamics, Falls Church, VA. There are no known offset agreements proposed in connection with this potential sale. Implementation of this proposed sale will require annual trips to Japan involving U.S. Government and contractor representatives for technical reviews, support, and oversight for approximately eight years. There will be no adverse impact on U.S. defense readiness as a result of this proposed sale. This notice of a potential sale is required by law and does not mean the sale has been concluded. All questions regarding this proposed Foreign Military Sale should be directed to the State Department's Bureau of Political Military Affairs, Office of Congressional and Public Affairs, pm-cpa@state.gov. https://news.usni.org/2019/01/29/40708