Crs Report for Congress: Navy Littoral Combat Ship (Lcs) Program: Oversight Issues and Options for Congress June 11, 2007 - Rl33741

The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) is a small, fast ship that uses modular "plugand-fight" mission packages, including unmanned vehicles (UVs). The basic version of the LCS, without any mission packages, is referred to as the LCS sea frame. The first LCS was procured in FY2005, another three were procured in FY2006, and two more were procured in FY2007. The Navy's proposed FY2008 budget, submitted to Congress in February 2007, requested $910.5 million in procurement funding for three more LCSs. Navy plans call for procuring a total of 55 LCSs. In response to significant cost growth in the building of the first LCSs that was first reported in January 2007, the Navy in March 2007 announced a proposed plan for restructuring the LCS program. The plan would: ! cancel the two LCSs funded in FY2007 (LCSs 5 and 6) and use the funding to pay for cost overruns on LCSs 1 through 4; ! lift the Navy's stop-work order on LCS-3 -- provided that the Navy reached an agreement by about April 12 with the industry team building LCS-3 (a team led by Lockheed) to restructure the contract that the Lockheed team has for building LCSs 1 and 3 from a ...