Blue Team News

The team of General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin said they strongly support the U.S. Navy's plan for the next generation of surface combatant ships referred to as DD(X). The Blue Team has developed technologies relevant to the DD(X) requirement and is preparing its response to the Navy's request for proposal (RFP). DD(X) will be a technology engine that will drive a family of combatants to transform the Navy. The Navy will use the advanced technology and networking capabilities from DD(X) in the development of both the future cruiser, CG(X), and the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). This strategy will provide a road map for the future Navy and a broader strategic framework within which transformation will occur.

Raytheon Company (NYSE:RTN) won a cost plus award fee contract to be the systems integrator for the DD(X), the U.S. Navy's next-generation surface combatant ship. The contract is expected to total $1.36 billion over the next three years. Raytheon is a partner on the industry "Gold Team" that was selected by the Navy to design, develop, build, and conduct at-sea tests of Engineering Development Models (EDMs) and then apply the results of the testing to a comprehensive DD(X) ship system design. The "Gold Team" is being lead by Northrop Grumman Ship Systems. "This is a very important win for Raytheon in an area that provides great potential for growth for our company," said Daniel P. Burnham, Raytheon Company's chairman of the board and chief executive officer.

Northrop Grumman Corporation’s Gold Team was chosen by the U.S. Navy to complete the system design for the Navy's advanced, 21st century surface combatant, DD(X). The project replaces the $25 billion DD-21 program of land-attack destroyers that was scrapped last fall. Northrop Grumman's Ship Systems sector will lead the system design, engineering prototype development and testing of the DD(X) System under a $265 million contract awarded today by the Navy. The team includes Raytheon Company (NYSE:RTN) as mission systems integrator and more than 30 of the nation's top engineering and maritime industrial companies. The initial design contract has a total value of approximately $2.9 billion over four years. "We are very pleased and proud that our DD(X) Gold Team was selected by the Navy.

Bath Iron Works, a unit of General Dynamics, has filed a protest with the General Accounting Office (GAO) challenging the fairness of the Navy’s DD(X) evaluation process. Bath Iron Works was the leader of the BLUE Team in that competition; the team included Lockheed Martin Corp., United Defense Industries, Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems, L-3 Corp. and others. “After careful review of the facts provided during the Navy’s debriefing, it is obvious to us that the selection process was not consistent with the established evaluation criteria, and thereby gave an unfair advantage to the GOLD Team,” said Allan Cameron, president of Bath Iron Works.

The U.S. Navy has granted the DD-21 Shipbuilder Alliance a $238 million contract for the application of Phase II of the design and development of the next-generation destroyer. Led by General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, the Blue Team will receive $98.4 million in phase II - a similar amount will go to the Gold Team led by Litton Ingalls Shipbuilding. BIW and Ingalls were designated by the government in May 1998 as the DD-21 Shipbuilder Alliance, which oversees contractual management for the two teams who are developing competitive proposals.