GD Building DDG-115 Destroyer
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In 2009, a deal was struck that shifted most DDG-1000 Zumwalt Class work to Bath Iron Works, in exchange for Northrop Grumman’s Ingalls shipyard taking over lead-yard responsibility for the DDG-51 Arleigh Burke Class destroyers, and receiving a greater share of orders for that ship type.
Bath Iron Works will still build some Arleigh Burke class ships, however, and will continue to receive contracts to that effect.
Contracts & Key Events
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Note that this article covers only DDG-115.
Sept 26/11: General Dynamics Bath Iron Works in Bath, ME receives a $679.6 million fixed-price-incentive contract for DDG 115 construction, with a $665 million option for DDG 116. Significant amounts of work will be performed in Bath/Brunswick, ME; Cincinnati, OH; Walpole, MA; Brunswick, GA; Coatesville, PA; Falls Church, VA; Indianapolis, IN; York, PA; South Portland, ME; Charlottesville, VA; Tulsa, OK; Anaheim, CA; and Portland, ME; and is expected to be completed by August 2017. This contract was procured via a limited competition between Bath Iron Works and Huntington Ingalls, and is managed by US Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, DC (N00024-11-C-2305).
Note that this is just the shipbuilder’s share. It excludes key items like radars, electronics, weapons, and other “government-furnished equipment,” some of which are visible below if their announcement made the connection explicit. As a second example, GD BIW’s shipbuilding costs for the recent DDG 1001/1002 main build contract were a bit more than $2 billion for 2 ships, each of which is expected to cost a bit less than $3 billion when all is said and done. The actual cost of DDG 115 would work out to around $2 billion at a similar ratio. Equipment for an Arleigh Burke Flight IIA ship has a long production history, is less sophisticated in some ways than DDG 1000’s, and does not include extras from other shipbuilders – like the Zumwalt’s composite deckhouse from HII. As such, DDG 115’s furnished equipment is very likely to be less expensive in absolute terms. The question is, would it be more than 30% less expensive, which is required in order to be lower relative to shipbuilding costs?
July 5/11: Lockheed Martin MS2 in Moorestown, NJ receives a $31.2 million contract modification, exercising an option for the production of the DDG 115 Aegis Weapon System, including a multi-mission signal processor (MMSP) and the procurement of the Secure Voice System and Digital Video Distribution System for DDG 114 and 115. This modification increases the total funding obligated to $329.8 million, and if all options are exercised the total value will be $332.45 million. Subsequent conversations with the US Navy resulted in the following statement:
“The N00024-09-C-production contract with Lockheed Martin covers scope the DDG113, DDG114 , DDG115 and a AWS Site equipment suite for Aegis Ashore (similar to a shipset). In addition (1) Multi-Mission Signal Processor was procured for delivery to Surface Combat Systems Center Wallops Island [which acts as a land-based test site].”
Work will be performed in Moorestown, NJ (87%) and Clearwater, FL (13%), and is expected to be complete by April 2014. US Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, DC manages the contract (N00024-09-C-5110).
July 5/11: Lockheed Martin has begn testing its AEGIS ACB-12/ Baseline 9 combination (SPY-1 radar & multi-mission signal processor (MMSP)) against live aircraft in a “stressing electronic-attack environment.” The instrumented, pod-equipped Learjets are operated by firms like L-3, on behalf of the US Navy.
ACB-12 will equip both retrofitted ships and new DDG-51 destroyers. Lockheed Martin’s delivery date for Baseline 9 is November 2012, with certification about a year later. Next steps include simulations of a modern Midway-style scenario involving both aircraft and ballistic missiles, which have gained new urgency with reports of China’s DF-21 ballistic anti-ship missile. Jim Judd is currently Lockheed Martin’s technical director for ACB-12. Aviation Week.
June 3/11: BAE Systems Land & Armaments, LP in Minneapolis, MN wins a $54.6 million firm-fixed-price sole-source contract for MK 41 Vertical Launching System mechanical modules and related equipment and services. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring its cumulative value to $55.5 million.
A June 22/11 BAE release reveals that the equipment will be installed in HII’s DDG 113 & 114, and Bath Iron Works’ DDG-115. Each ship will receive 2 sets, for a total of 6. Production on the missile launchers will begin in June 2011 and run through 2013, though the contract runs to September 2015. Work will be performed in Aberdeen, SD (45%); Aiken, SC (25%); York, PA (20%); Louisville, KY (5%); and Fridley, MN (5%). Work is expected to be complete by September 2015 (N00024-11-C-5301).
Dec 20/10: Raytheon Co. in Sudbury, MA receives a $45.3 million firm-fixed-price contract modification, exercising options for the production of 2 AN/SPY-1Dv transmitter groups and 2 MK 99 Mod 8 fire control systems, for installation on DDG 114 (Northrop Grumman) and DDG 115 (GD). See also May 3/10.
Work will be performed in Andover, MA (88%), and Sudbury, MA (12%), and is expected to be complete by April 2013. US Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington Navy Yard, DC manages the contract (N00024-09-C-5111).
Oct 14/10: Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Sensors in Moorestown, NJ receives a $97 million contract modification to finalize production of the DDG 113 Aegis weapon system (including a multi-mission signal processor [MMSP]); plus an additional MMSP for the Surface Combat System Center on Wallops Island, VA; DDG 114-115 advance procurement efforts; and associated technical services. Note that DDG 113-114 are being built by Northrop Grumman, so only a small part of this award is related to DDG 115.
Work will be performed in Moorestown, NJ (87%), and Clearwater, FL (13%), and is expected to be complete by October 2014 (N00024-09-C-5110).
June 21/10: Philadelphia Gear Corp. announces an $80 million contract to provide main reduction gears for 3 new Arleigh Burke Class destroyers (DDG 113, 114, and 115). Options for additional ships could bring the contract’s eventual total to more than $425 million.
Philadelphia Gear has supplied supplied gears, sprockets and transmissions for US Navy ships since the First World War, and the firm now specializes in the design and manufacture of Main Reduction Gears (MRGs) for front line combat and support vessels. Main reduction gears are used to turn the very fast rotational speed of an engine, such as a DDG-51 type destroyers’ LM2500 turbines, into efficient slower speed rotation of the ships’ propellers. The entire assembly weighs over 100,000 pounds, is rated at at 51,550 shp, and uses a reduction ratio of 21.3746 to 1.
Note that this contract will supply both Northrop Grumman (DDG 113/114) and Bath Iron Works (DDG 115). Earlier this year, Philadelphia Gear announced plans to move its West Coast operations from Lynwood, CA to a renovated facility in Santa Fe Springs, near Los Angeles. The new 120,000 square foot facility is slated to open in Q3 2010, and will house all assembly and test, plus more than 80% of the manufacturing work for the US Navy’s DDG program. Philadelphia Gear Corp. | FedBizOpps solicitation, which explains the exact structure of these main reduction gears.
May 3/10: “Government-Furnished Equipment” remains a substantial share of any warship’s cost. Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Sensors in Moorestown, NJ receives a $91.3 million firm-fixed-price not-to-exceed modification to a previously awarded contract for advance procurement of the consolidated bill of material and associated labor to support beryllium oxide resistors, phase shifters, surface mount work center production and engineering services support of production of the DDG 114 and 115’s Aegis weapon system.
Aegis refers to both the SPY-1 radars that equip these ships, and the combat system that integrates the ship’s radar and weapons into a single coordinated defensive system. It is so integral to this and related ship classes that they are frequently described in common parlance as “Aegis destroyers/ cruisers/ frigates.” Note that DDG 114 will be built by Northrop Grumman.
Work will be performed in Moorestown, NJ (85%), and Clearwater, FL (15%), and is expected to be complete by December 2011. The Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington Navy Yard, D.C. manages these contracts (N00024-09-C-5110).
Feb 26/10: General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, Bath, ME receives a not-to-exceed $114 million letter contract for long-lead time material in support of the anticipated construction of DDG 115 under the DDG 51 class destroyer program. The contract will buy things like propulsion gas turbines, generators, air conditioning systems, controllable pitch propeller and other components, so they’ll be ready in time when construction of DDG 115 begins.
Work will be performed in Cincinnati, OH (32.6%); Indianapolis, IN (23.7%); Coatesville, PA (12.3%); Charlottesville, VA (10.9%); Erie, PA (6.9%); Walpole, MA (5.4%); Bath, ME (1.2%); Warminster, PA (1%); and various other locations (6%), and is expected to be complete by December 2012. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured by US Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, DC (N00024-10-C-2311). GD Bath Iron Works release
