By Christopher Cavas - Published in Defense News 10/10/2007
Alcoa, one of the world's largest aluminum manufacturing and technology companies, finally has gotten a foot in the door in the U.S. Navy's Littoral Combat Ship program.
An $8.3 million contract was awarded to the company Sept. 27 to "provide engineering services in support of the redesign of existing aluminum structures" on the LCS, according to the Pentagon's contract announcement.
Both competing designs in the LCS program have substantial aluminum components. Lockheed Martin's design uses a steel hull with an aluminum superstructure, while the General Dynamics ship uses an all-aluminum hull and superstructure with steel stiffening added into the hull.
GD's LCS is a military adaptation of a trimaran commercial ferry design by Austal Ltd., of Western Australia. The ships are being built at Austal's American subsidiary, Austal USA, in Mobile, Ala. Austal and it s Australian competitor Incat have long experience in aluminum ship construction, specializing in commercial ferries in worldwide use.
The GD LCS ships will be the largest aluminum ships ever built. A single commercial version, the Benchijigua Express, has been in service since 2005 in the Canary Islands.
Although Alcoa has in past decades built several experimental aluminum ships, the company has been eager to join the LCS program.
"We have a burgeoning defense element in our company," Alcoa spokesman Kevin Lowery said Oct. 4. "We can provide materials that are lighter, that make things go faster and are stronger."
Some observers noted the use of the term "redesign" in the contract announcement and wondered if the award was an indication of structural problems with the Independence (LCS 2), the first General Dynamics ship, which is scheduled to be delivered to the Navy next summer.
"There are no structural problems with the LCS 2 hull design," the Navy said Oct. 4 in a statement released by Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA). "The structural design for the ship is in compliance with the [American Bureau of Shipping] Naval Vessel Rules and the High Speed Naval Craft Guide and in accordance with contract requirements."
NAVSEA added that "no existing structures are being redesigned for the GD LCS," and that "no redesign has occurred and no structure has been removed or replaced."
So why was Alcoa brought into the project?
"Alcoa brings world-class expertise in the development of new aluminum alloys and maximizing aluminum performance in complex systems," NAVSEA said in the statement. "Alcoa is working to provide improved material capability using their established processes."
Money for the Alcoa contract was added by Congress and not requested by the Navy, sources said.
Alcoa will be able to apply technologies that can minimize or eliminate cracking in aluminum structures, Lowrey said, adding that the company is not being asked to look at specific elements in the Littoral Combat Ships.
"You would want to look at the whole thing in totality," he said, adding that "this is purely a matter of seeing that there are fresh eyes and a fresh perspective being put on aluminum and what it can do in the defense market."
"Everyone's constantly looking at improving processes, examining all processes," a General Dynamics source said.
Production issues are not expected to delay delivery of the Independence, NAVSEA said.
Lockheed Martin's competing ship, the Freedom (LCS 1), is about a year behind schedule and now is expected to be delivered in the spring of 2008.
Both LCS contractors have experienced significant cost growth on their ships. In April, the Navy canceled construction of Lockheed's second ship after costs on the first Lockheed ship reportedly approached $400 million — far above the publicized $220 million price tag. The Navy has not revealed specific cost growth figures for the first GD ship, but it is currently in negotiations with General Dynamics to restructure the construction contracts of GD's first two ships from cost-plus to fixed-price agreements.
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