Lead LPD 17 Ship Makes Progress
Plagued by delays and a project management team shake-up, the LPD 17 program has "turned the corner" said Philip Dur, president of Northrop Grumman Corp. Ship Systems, when speaking earlier this week at a Washington, D.C. conference on raising FY '03 Navy procurement funding. This would seem to be the case, as the company announced that it achieved an integral milestone in the construction of San Antonio, when it completed early landing of all four main propulsion engines and three of five power generators on their foundations. In addition, 55 of the 210 units have been erected on San Antonio, the lead ship in the Navy's new LPD 17 Class of amphibious transport dock ships. The ship is scheduled for delivery in November 2004.
Push Made for $2.9B More Navy Funding in 2003
Yesterday in Washington, D.C., leaders from the Senate, the military and business met to discuss strategies to increase FY 03 procurement funding by at least $2.9 billion to build more new navy ships. Concerned that funding is inadequate to maintain the Federally mandated 300-ship navy as required by the 2001 Quadrennial Defense Review, leaders sought to bring publicity to their plight, magnifying the depth of their need while celebrating the success of the navy in response to the September 11 terrorist attacks. The current budget requests $6.1 billion for five new ships, a figure that is $5 billion below the previous administrations FY ‘01 shipbuilding procurement budget.
GAO Affirms Northrop Grumman and Raytheon as DD(X) Gold Team
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.
