US Navy Preparing RFP for Procurement of 10 Arleigh Burke-class Destroyers

The US Navy is preparing to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) for at least 10 Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers (DDG-51).

The RFP is set for release within the next month, USNI quoted DDG-51 program manager, Capt. Casey Moton as saying on Tuesday.

“For [the current fiscal year, 2018], I think we’re at Navy’s budget request, which is two ships, unless something were to happen in final conference on the approps bill,” Moton said.

The NDAA added funding for a third ship this year but the appropriators do not seem interested in providing the money to buy that additional DDG, though they’ve yet to pass a final defense spending bill for the year.

“For future ships, we’re planning on an options construct in the RFP to give us the flexibility of added ships if we need to. And we’re doing that for two reasons: one is because we know that occasionally Congress tries to add ships, and we’re also doing that because obviously there’s a lot of work going on in the Navy and on the Hill on a path to 355, and so from a contractual standpoint we wanted to have a construct in place that would allow us to ramp up if we needed.”

The five-year shipbuilding contract is planned to be awarded to the two builders, Bath Iron Works and Ingalls Shipbuilding, by the end of the current fiscal year.