Report to Congress on Navy Medium Landing Ship
U.S. Naval Institute Staff
July 26, 2024 12:40 PM
The following is the Navy Medium Landing Ship (LSM) (Previously Light Amphibious Warship [LAW]) Program: Background and Issues for Congress on July 23, 2024.
From the report
Overview
As discussed above, the LSM program is to include 18 to 35 ships. LSMs would be much smaller and individually much less expensive to procure and operate than the Navy’s current amphibious ships.
Procurement Schedule
The Navy wants to procure the first LSM in FY2025, the second in FY2026, the third and fourth in FY2027, the fifth and sixth LSMs in FY2028, the seventh and eighth in FY2029, and at least 10 more in fiscal years beyond FY2029. On May 17, 2023, the Navy released a Request for Information (RFI) regarding the LSM program asking interested firms to reply to the following questions, among others:
Do you have the resources and production capacity available to be awarded four (4) [LSM] ships per fiscal year?… If so, how can your shipyard support production of 4 [LSM] hulls per year?… If not, what is the maximum number of [LSM] ships that can begin production each year?… If not, are there investment or shipyard improvements that can be done to enable increasing production capacity to 4 [LSM] hulls per year?
The Navy’s FY2025 budget submission states that the contract for the construction of the first LSM would be awarded in March 2025, and that the ship would be delivered in February 2029.
Procurement Cost
https://news.usni.org/2024/07/26/report-to-congress-on-navy-medium-landing-ship-5
