Gold Team News

It appears that the considerable, unrelenting lobbying effort of shipbuilders and Navy leaders has finally worked. According to a wire reports, a House of Representatives panel on Tuesday, April 30, voted to spend $3.2 billion more on military hardware than the President asked for, a sum which includes an additional $1 billion for Navy Ships. Reuters reported that the House Armed Services procurement subcommittee approved a plan to provide $73.4 billion for aircraft, submarines, missile defense and other military hardware for next fiscal year that starts in October. It is part of the $396 billion defense bill the full committee is to consider on Wednesday that lays the groundwork for President George W. Bush's plan for the biggest military buildup in more than two decades.

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.

Northrop Grumman Corporation has appointed Dave Williams sector vice president of engineering for its Ship Systems sector. Williams joined Northrop Grumman Ship Systems in 1988. technical director of DD 21 Gold Team. this new assignment. construction of various ship classes including LHD, SA'AR 5, and DDG. Landing Craft Air Cushion. for Sperry Vickers Marine Hydraulics. Mississippi State University in mechanical engineering. 47 class ships.

Northrop Grumman Corporation, leader of the DD(X) Gold Team, and Raytheon company said today that they were delighted by the decision of the General Accounting Office (GAO), which validates that an appropriate evaluation process was used when the U.S. Navy selected the Gold Team to complete the system design for the Navy's 21st century surface combatant, DD(X). "Now that this issue is behind us, we can move ahead on this transformational ship program, which is so critical to the Navy, the DoD and the nation," said Kent Kresa, Northrop Grumman chairman and chief executive officer. "We were confident in the Navy's selection process, and are grateful that the GAO so expeditiously acted in validating that the Gold Team's proposal provided the best value for the customer.

The U.S. Navy announced a $124 million contract modification for continuation of design and test planning of its 21st century DD 21 destroyer program. The contract was awarded to the DD 21 Alliance which includes Ingalls Shipbuilding here and Bath Iron Works of Bath, Me. Ingalls Shipbuilding, a Northrop Grumman company, is leading the DD 21 Gold Team, which includes the Raytheon Company and The Boeing Company, and will receive $52 million for the continuation of its work associated with Phase II of this program. Work involved by the Gold Team during the continuation of Phase II includes the development and maturity of critical technologies such as the vessel's integrated power system, the advanced gun and dual-band radar suite.

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.