Huntington-Ingalls Industries – Ingalls Shipbuilding has been awarded a $140m modification contract by the Supervisor of Shipbuilding Gulf Coast to provide planning yard services for the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) in-service ships.
The contract includes options to exercise to accomplish the planning yard services, and the work is expected to be completed by April 2024. The Supervisor of Shipbuilding Gulf Coast, based in Pascagoula, Mississippi, is the contracting activity for this project.
The LCS programme is a fast, agile, networked surface combatant designed to operate in near-shore environments. It can conduct surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, and mine countermeasure missions.
According to GlobaData’s “US Armed Forces Inventory – Equipment Inventory 2022“, the US Navy owns 14 LCS Independence– and 11 LCS Freedom-class vessels, with the Independence variant being the larger ship.
The LCS programme is a key component of the US Navy’s fleet, and the planning yard services provided by Ingalls Shipbuilding will be essential in maintaining and supporting these ships.
GlobalData’s report “The Global Naval Vessels and Surface Combatants Market 2023-2033” claims that navies are focusing on the design and construction of naval vessels capable of changing their primary role by swapping modular mission packages.
This approach has enabled navies to significantly reduce naval platform acquisition, maintenance, and operational costs over their life cycle. The US Navy plans to procure mission packages for its LCSs.
Ingalls Shipbuilding is a subsidiary of Huntington-Ingalls Industries, the largest military shipbuilder in the United States. The company has a long history of building and maintaining ships for the US Navy and other customers.
In the past, General Dynamics have provided the planning yard services for the US Navy’s LCS platforms.
