EXCLUSIVE: Navy tags LCS combining gear fixes at $8 to $10 million per ship

Updated 7/6/2023 at 11:30 am ET with comment from Lockheed Martin.

WASHINGTON — The US Navy’s projected cost for fixing the defective combining gear on the Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ships is between $8 million and $10 million per ship, with the service and prime contractor Lockheed Martin each footing 50 percent of the bills, according to a new Navy report obtained by Breaking Defense.

All told, the overall costs for fixing the ships described in the report could total between $56 and $70 million. (Those numbers exclude ships being delivered to the Navy with the fix implemented as well as the earliest LCS that have not yet been green lit to receive the repairs.)

The June report, sent to congress on June 20 and signed by acting acquisition executive Frederick Stefany, outlines the repairs’ costs per ship as well as the status of each Freedom-class vessel, alongside Navy analysis about several other LCS modernization and maintenance issues. Lawmakers directed the service to produce the document through a provision in the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act.

The combining gear connects the ship’s diesel engines to gas turbines that produce additional power. The service discovered an issue with the component in late 2020 that effectively limited how fast the ships could sail under certain circumstances. The issue has only impacted Lockheed Martin-made Freedom-class LCS and not the Austal USA-made Independence class ships.

According to the Navy’s report to lawmakers, LCS-19, 21 and 23 have received the fix, while 25, 27, 29 and 31 will be delivered to the service with the changes implemented. LCS-11, 13, 15 and 17 have all begun undergoing repair work or are scheduled to do so in the coming months.

“Plans for incorporating the CG [combining gear] fix on the remaining ships planned to decommission in FY23 (LCS-5, LCS-7, and LCS-9) are currently being assessed,” according to the report. While LCS-11 is planned for decommissioning, the service is repairing its combining gear anyway to prepare it for a potential foreign military sale or other transfer to a partner nation, the report adds.

RELATED: Navy could offer retired LCS to South American nations, Gilday says

A Lockheed Martin spokesperson told Breaking Defense, the company “continues to work with the U.S. Navy on cost allocation in accordance with the provisions of the contract for the delivered ships (LCS 5-19),” but deferred further comment to the service. Breaking Defense has reached out to the US Navy.

Elsewhere in the document, the Navy details its current schedule for the LCS lethality and survivability program, an initiative to outfit both ship variants with common upgrades that will replace certain contractor-furnished equipment with government-furnished equipment.

“The modifications include development of a common Combat Management System (CMS) and integration and testing of government furnished systems including the Gun Weapon System (GWS), Electronic Warfare (EW) system, Decoy Launching System (DLS), and enhanced data link capability for both LCS variant ships,” according to the report.

Those upgrades will begin fielding on the Independence-class ships in fiscal 2024 starting with the Gabrielle Giffords (LCS-10) and finishing with the Pierre (LCS-38) by fiscal 2032.

“No Freedom variant hulls are currently planned for LCS Phase 1 upgrades, but the Navy is currently assessing the cost and practicality to do the upgrade,” according to the report.

Future upgrades under consideration include targeting integration for the Naval Strike Missile, Rolling Airframe Missile Block 2B integration, “unmanned surface vessel control” and Common Aviation Command and Control System integration, among others.

Lawmakers also sought the Navy’s analysis on the possibility of using Littoral Combat Ships to host Marines prior to the service designing and procuring a Medium Landing Ship, formerly named the “Light Amphibious Warship.”

The service writes that LCS have “significant limitations in accommodations… and the ability to load Marine Corps tactical vehicles” that support the kinds of operations the Marines hope Medium Landing Ship will accomplish.

“The Navy and Marine Corps are in the process of identifying an interim investment strategy for a littoral maneuver bridging solution that will provide surrogates for littoral maneuver to mitigate risk and loss of necessary campaigning activities,” according to the report. “However, the bridging solution is not a replacement for necessary [Medium Landing Ships] and amphibious warfare ships.”