On this episode of the DefAero Report Daily Podcast, sponsored by Bell, our guest is Mike Petters, the president and CEO of Huntington Ingalls Industries for a wide ranging interview on COVID-19 impacts to operations; future Navy force structure and changes to the amphibious force of the future; unmanned surface platforms; the Ford-class aircraft carrier program; future frigate proposal and the Coast Guard Offshore Patrol Cutter program…and much more.
Fincantieri Marinette Marine plans a major upgrade and expansion of its shipyard in Marinette, Wisconsin should it secure the prime contractor award for the US Navy’s FFG(X) frigate program, shipyard president Rick Hunt told reporters Jan. 8.
Several new facilities would be built at the yard to accommodate the frigates, Hunt said, including a major new assembly hall. The upgrades are needed to accommodate the frigates which, at about 7,400 tons, would be more than twice the size of the littoral combat ships (LCS) now in series production at Marinette.
WASHINGTON – A $22.2 billion block-buy contract for nine more SSN 774 Virginia-class submarines with an option for a tenth sub was announced Tuesday by the US Navy. Prime contractor General Dynamics Electric Boat (GDEB) and major subcontractor Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) Newport News Shipbuilding are the primary beneficiaries of the new deal.
Bryan Clark, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, discusses CSBA’s recently released “Restoring American Seapower” study with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian. The study — co-authored by Peter Haynes, Jessie Sloman and Timothy Walton of CSBA joined by Bryan McGrath of the Hudson Institute and Craig Hooper of Gryphon Scientific — found that the Navy needs between 340 and 380 ships (depending on ship counting rules) and is one of three mandated by Congress in the National Defense Authorization Act 2016 to help shape Navy shipbuilding and force structure. The other two are the Navy’s own internal study, “Alternative Future Fleet Platform Architecture Study,” which found a need for 355 ships, and “Navy Future Fleet Platform Architecture Study” by the MITRE Corporation – one of America’s federally funded research and development centers – that concluded the Navy needs 414 ships to support US strategy and confront threats in 2030. Links to all three reports can be found at the Defense & Aerospace Report website.