LHA 6 / LHX / LHA(R)
On 15 June 2006 Northrop Grumman Ship Systems (NGSS), Pascagoula, Mississippi was awarded a $20,378,352 modification under previously awarded contract (N00024-05-C-2221) to exercise a cost-plus-fixed-fee option for special studies and procurement of additional long lead-time material, in support of LHA 6 ship construction. The LHA(R) was intended to replace the LHA 1 Class amphibious assault ships and would provide forward presence and power projection as an integral part of joint, interagency and multinational maritime expeditionary forces. The LHA(R) Flight 0 Ship would be a variant of the LHD 8 amphibious assault ship currently being built by NGSS and would have enhanced aviation capabilities. The Navy began procurement of long lead time material for LHA 6 in Fiscal Year 2005 and the construction of LHA 6 was scheduled to begin in FY07.
LHA 6, the first ship of the LHA(R) program, would be able to operate and support a detachment of 20+ F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. LHA 6 featurs several aviation capabilities enhanced beyond previous amphibious assault ships. These include an enlarged hangar deck, realignment and expansion of the aviation maintenance facilities, a significant increase in available stowage for parts and support equipment, and increased aviation fuel capacity. LHA 6 would be multi-functional and versatile, modifying existing Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (C4I) spaces to allow for flexible mission dependent reconfiguration. LHA 6 would also have increased cargo magazine capacity, better survivability, and greater service life margins. LHA 6 would use the same gas turbine propulsion plant, zonal electrical distribution and electric auxiliary systems being designed and built for LHD 8, the final of the Wasp class amphibious assault ships.
The amphibious fleet was expected to become organized for forward presence into twelve ARGs (eventually Expeditionary Support Groups), each with three ships. The centerpiece of the ARG was a Wasp-class or Tarawa-class amphibious assault ship. The first five Tarawa (LHA-1)-class amphibious assault ships were commissioned between 1976 and 1980. The five ships of the Tarawa class general-purpose amphibious assault ships (LHA) reach the end of their expected service lives at the rate of one per year from 2011 to 2015. Originally intended for a service life of 20 years, this was later extended to 35 years through limited mid-life upgrades. Although the Navy had considered a SLEP for the LHAs, this was ultimately assessed to be technically infeasible and unaffordable. LHD 8 would replace one of the LHAs, while the LHA(R) program would replace the last four Tarawa-class LHAs.
The LHA(R) Flight Zero Required Capabilities Memo was signed by the CNO, CMC and ASN(RDA) in mid-2004. Flight Zero would be a LHD variant with enhanced aviation capabilities in lieu of a well deck. Further detailed requirements would be defined in a Capability Development Document (CDD) for Flight Zero. PEO (Ships) was tasked to provide a feasibility design and refined cost estimate to ASN(RDA) no later than 30 June 2004.
On 15 July 2005, Northrop Grumman Ship Systems (NGSS), Pascagoula, Mississippi, was awarded a $109,865,504 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for Advanced Planning, Long Lead Time Material, Systems Engineering, and Special Studies for the LHA(R) Flight 0 Amphibious Assault Ship. The LHA(R) would replace the LHA 1 Class Amphibious Assault Ship and would provide forward presence and power projection as an integral part of joint, inter-agency and multi-national maritime expeditionary forces. It would launch tilt-rotors, helicopters, and fixed wing, short take-off vertical landing aircraft in support of amphibious operations. The LHA(R) Flight 0 Ship would be a variant of the LHD 8 Amphibious Assault Ship currently being built by NGSS and would have enhanced aviation capabilities. Work would be performed in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and was expected to be completed by December 2006. The contract was awarded on a sole-source basis. Contract funds would not expire at the end of the fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, was the contracting activity (N00024-05-C-2221).
The LHA(R) would replace the LHA 1 class of amphibious assault ships, and would have the flexibility to operate in the traditional role as the flagship for an Expeditionary Strike Group, as well as potentially playing a key role in the maritime pre-positioning force future (MPF(F)). As the Navy's Seabasing plan matures, the flexibility to operate with the Expeditionary Strike Group and as part of the MPF(F) will make the LHA(R) a vital cog in the Sea Base. LHA(R) would be a variant of the gas turbine-powered LHD 8. The one key difference of LHA(R) from LHD 8 was that it would be an aviation-enhanced assault ship tailored for the US Marine Corps future Aviation Combat Element centered on the STOVL F-35B Joint Strike Fighter and the tilt-rotor V-22 Osprey.
The RDA (Research, Development, and Acquisition) team worked with the Navy and Marine Corps leadership to restructure LHA(R) from a plug-plus to an aviation variant using the proven LHD hull to save over $1.1 billion.
The LHA(R) A/V (Aviation Variant) does not have the larger hull of the former LHA(R). The Plug Plus Variant was 77 ft longer & 10 ft wider than the LHD. With the LHA(R) A/V the Well Deck is gone, the Lower Vehicle Deck is gone, and there are no LCACs. LHA(R) Aviation Variant is a new design same footprint size as the existing LHD class ships. It has an expanded Hangar with 2 High Hat areas. The Cargo/Ammo Magazines are contained within an "Armored Box" similar to CVN design for ships survivability purposes. There is AWSE Work Center & stowage space, OHE stowage, and Upper Vehicle stowage (this was out but came back).
The LHA replacement modifies the LHD design to maximize support for the V-22, the CH-53, and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, with adequate service margins for growth. The biggest change brought about in the Global War on Terror is LHA(R). The aviation specific variant of the LHA(R) has no well deck, a monumental decision that denotes a cultural change. The Marines were seen as bringing the ACE (Aviation Coordination Element) increasingly back to sea.
Beginning in FY01, the Navy conducted an analysis of alternatives study to determine the preferred choice between a modification to the LHD class design or a brand new hull configuration, variously known as the LH(X) or LHA(R) class. The Navy intended to determine the appropriate design for the LHA(R), including a modified-repeat of the LHD design, a modified LHD, and a completely new design. LHA(R) may also benefit by incorporating C4I technologies from the CVNX program.
In March 2001, the Navy and Joint Staff approved and validated the LHA(R) Mission Need Statement. The office of the Under-secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics authorized Milestone ÒAÓ Acquisition status for the program, as well as its entry into the Concept Exploration phase in July 2001.
The LHA Replacement was the only class of ship in the SCN plan not intended to be a new design. The Marine Corps expected that their future requirements would include a 16.5% increase in ground equipment weight and a 40% increase in topside weight. These calculations did not include the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which was planned to be introduced to the fleet in 2008. The future ACE may include as many as 12 MV-22's, 8 UH-1Y, 4 CH-53E and 10 F-35 JSF's, which would weigh approx 314,000 lbs more than 6 AV-8s. Also expected were 4 CH-60's as part of the Navy detachment. LHD's were designed for 2.5% growth in weight. The CNO's policy (1986) was for 5% growth factor in ship construction programs.
LHX amphibious assault ships were a conceptual next-generation assault ship intended to replace the LHA Tarawas. The Navy's initial plan was to conduct a service life extension program (SLEP) overhaul on the LHA Tarawa class amphibious assault ships when they reached the 35 year point in their operating life. The SLEP would provide another 15 years of life at a cost of nearly $1.0 billion per SLEP. The SLEP would extend the machinery operating life and provide communications upgrades. However, stability would remain a main concern and the LHA had limited capabilities to support 21st century littoral warfare systems such as the landing craft air cushion (LCAC) and MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft.
In the event the Tarawa SLEP was not funded, and if possible further units of the LHA-1 Wasp class were not authorized, the first of the LHX class was planned for authorization 2005 with commissioning in 2011, with at least five units to be constructed. The design would have likely been based on the Wasp design, apart from the use of a dry deck for hovercraft instead of a docking well.
This LHA Replacement schedule was viewed with great concern. First, it was unrealistic to believe that a ship being built to last until the 2050 timeframe would have little to no evolutionary design built into it. Second, funding for the replacement ships was an issue when stacked closely together as they are. This was not an affordable acquisition strategy.
As an all-new design, the LHX could be designed to be more capable and more cost-effective than a modified LHD-1. The opportunity for a "clean sheet of paper" design could take maximum advantage of new technologies, permitting large reductions in crew size that could reduce the life-cycle cost of the ship. Developing the LHX could cost more than a billion dollars and require several years of design and engineering work. If LHD-8 replaced the first LHA, then the $1 billion in development costs would be amortized over an LHX production run of as few as four ships, increasing the LHX's total unit acquisition cost by at least $250 million per ship. Since these ships would be the first built to the new design, they would have learning curve risks that could elevate their price further relative to the LHD-8, which was further along the learning curve.
Under Department of Defense guidance, the Navy conducted an analysis of alternatives (AoA) study to determine the best method of replacing the four remaining LHAs. This study, completed in the summer of 2002, evaluated the following alternatives: a repeat LHD 8 with evolutionary modifications, a modified LHD 8 (77 feet longer and 10 feet wider), upgraded to enhance its ability to operate the larger and more capable new-generation amphibious systems, and new ship designs spanning a wide range of size and capability.
By December 2002 a slightly longer and wider version of the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship was one of three designs under consideration as a "sea base" to replace four aging LHA-class "big deck" amphibious ships by 2015. A second alternative would be to continue building additional units of the Wasp class, with some improvements on the current design without enlarging the ship to make room for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and the MV-22. The third alternative would be an all-new design, with room for both new planes, including deck space to launch helicopters and conventional aircraft simultaneously. At about $3 billion per ship, the "plug plus" would be more expensive than the existing Wasp design, but cheaper than the $4 billion needed for a completely new design. The new design ship would feature a dual tram design, with the command and control island amidships and center deck, allowing concurrent rotary wing and fixed-wing flight operations. The result would be a ship with two flight decks.
The "LHD plug plus" would be 77 feet longer and have a flight deck 10 feet wider than that of the Wasp class. The extra room would accommodate about twenty F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, along with an assortment of helicopters and MV-22 tilt-rotor aircraft. The "plug plus" name referred to the addition of two hull sections, one 21 feet long, the other 56 feet long, to the current LHD design. The 22% increase over the Wasp-class would provide room for the F-35 and the MV-22, both of which are larger than the aircraft they replace. The new ships would carry an assortment of landing craft and more than 1,800 Marines.
LHA(R) would feature expanded aviation capabilities, such as the ability to carry between 20 and 25 short takeoff, vertical landing versions of the multi-service, multinational F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) under development by Lockheed Martin. This would be a major increase in capability and durability from the present LHA force that can only accommodate about a half dozen Boeing (BA) AV-8B Harrier II strike aircraft.
The LHA-Replacement concept was a significant change from the program as conceived and supported by a Center for Naval Analyses analysis of alternatives (AoA) conducted in 2000. That study preferred a new hull design of about 40,000 tons to 45,000 tons displacement. The LHA-Replacement was envisioned and supported by the Marine Corps as not another LHD, but rather a completely new class of ship that would remain in service through 2050.
The Naval Sea Systems Command intends to award a sole source contract to Northrop Grumman Ship Systems, Inc. (NGSS), Pascagoula, Mississippi, for functional design support for the LHA(R) Amphibious Assault Ship, which would replace the LHA Class Amphibious Assault ships. The work would include functional design support, integrated logistics support, and developing/refining ship requirements, focusing on maneuvering, sea keeping and motions analysis, general compartment arrangements, propulsion/machinery/warfare/ mission systems, navigation, total ship design alternatives, protection, signature control, and ownership cost reductions. The contract would include effort for FY03 and would include options for additional effort in FY04 through FY06. NGSS had designed and constructed all LHA and LHD Class Amphibious Assault ships and was beginning construction of LHD 8. As the sole designer and shipbuilder for these ship types, NGSS possessed the requisite knowledge and experience to satisfactorily perform the requirements.
The first ship in the LHA(R) Program (a modified "Plug Plus" LHD-8) was scheduled for an FY08 (formerly 2007) contract award (as LHD-9) and an FY13-14 timeframe delivery, with the following ships in the class being acquired every 3 years. Procurement of the first of four planned LHA(R) ships was part of a spiral development approach that continued the successful and low risk evolution of large deck amphibious assault ships that began with the Tarawa (LHA 1) Class and continued with the WASP (LHD 1) Class.
The Department was in the process of determining the preferred designs for the remaining ships of the LHA(R) class. This extended procurement and construction schedule would result in the last Tarawa-class LHA being retired in 2022, seven years past its 35-year expected service life.
The Marine Corps supported construction of a new LHA(R) design that would allow concurrent flight operations (rotary wing/tiltrotor aircraft turning on deck during fixed-wing launch and recovery) and increased vehicle stowage. Although the schedule remains somewhat uncertain, detail design was expected to start in FY07 with construction beginning in 2009, followed by the first ship delivery in 2013.
The Navy, whose FY06 budget included money for just four ships, ranks its Number 1 unfunded priority as a $417 million bill to accelerate delivery of the big-deck amphibious ship, LHA(R).
As of early 2002, Northrop Grumman, which had sought to position itself as a RMA firm, had expressed a preference for modifying Ingalls' Wasp-class amphibious ships rather than developing a new design for the LHA Replacement (LHA-R).
In March 2003, the Navy proposed to Congress a fleet of 375 ships, including thirty-seven amphibious ships and eighteen new MPSs capable of conducting sea-basing operations. Over a thirty-year period up to 2035, this would involve purchasing twelve LPD 17s (San Antonio class), ten amphibious ships of a new class (LHA-R) similar to the present LHDs but carrying more aircraft, twelve dock landing ships of a new class (LSD-X), and up to twenty-one new MPF(F)s, far more capable than the current maritime prepositioning ships.
On 11 February 2005, the Acting Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics) (USD(AT&L)) approved the Acquisition Strategy Report for the Navy's Amphibious Assault Ship Replacement (LHA(R)) Program, thus enabling the Navy to proceed with their plans to negotiate an advance procurement contract for the first LHA(R) ship. This first ship, referred to as a Flight 0 ship, would be an enhanced aviation variant of the LHD-1 class. The advance procurement contract would include funding for long lead time material and systems engineering.
The FY06 budget requested $150 million for acceleration of the LHA(R) critical capability. In order to meet future warfighting requirements, the Navy and Marine Corps leadership was evaluating LHA (Replacement), or LHA(R), requirements in the larger context of Joint Seabasing, power projection, the Global War On Terrorism, and lessons learned from Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. The resulting platform would provide a transformational capability that was interoperable with future amphibious and Maritime Preposition Force ships, high-speed connectors, advanced rotorcraft like the MV-22, Joint Strike Fighter, and Expeditionary Fighting Vehicles.
