The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
announced today that five industry teams have been selected to
enter into Phase I of the joint Navy/DARPA Arsenal Ship Program.
Each industry team will be awarded a $1 million agreement using
the provisions of Public Law 103-160, Section 845, Other
Agreements Authority. The value of the research and development
portion (Phases I-IV) of the program is approximately $520
million. The five industry teams selected are as follows:
General Dynamics, Marine/Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, Team
Leader, with: General Dynamics, Marine/Electric Boat, Groton,
Conn.; Raytheon Electronic Systems, Lexington, Mass.; and Science
Applications International Corp., McLean, Va.
Hughes Aircraft Company, Fullerton, Calif., Team Leader,
with: Avondale Shipyards, New Orleans, La.; Advanced Marine
Enterprises, Arlington, Va.; Booz-Allen & Hamilton, McLean, Va.;
and McDonnell Douglas, Huntington Beach, Calif.
Lockheed-Martin, Government Electronic Systems, Morrestown,
N.J., Team Leader, with: Litton Industries/Ingalls Shipbuilding,
Pascagoula, Miss.; and Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News,
Va.
Metro Machine Corp., Norfolk, Va., Team Leader, with:
Rockwell International/Collins International, Seal Beach, Calif.;
Trinity Marine Group, Gulfport, Miss.; Composite Ships,
Arlington, Va.; and Marinex International Inc., Hoboken, N.J.
Northrop Grumman Corporation, Sykesville, Md., Team Leader,
with: National Steel and Shipbuilding Co., San Diego, Calif.;
Vitro Corp., Rockville, Md.; Solipsys, Columbia, Md.; and Band
Lavis & Associates Inc., Severna Park, Md.
The Arsenal Ship Program is a high-priority, joint
Navy/DARPA program which will develop a new capability for
delivery of large quantities of ordnance in support of land and
littoral engagements. The basic requirement for the Arsenal Ship
is to satisfy joint naval expeditionary force warfighting
requirements in regional conflicts by providing the theater
commander with massive firepower for long-range strike, naval
surface fire support, and air theater-defense through hundreds of
vertical launch system cells and a future advanced gun.
Arsenal Ship Phase I Contractors
The Arsenal Ship Programs acquisition approach represents a
major departure from the way Navy ships have been acquired in the
past. The program turns the system development process over to
industry at its earliest stage and challenges industry to develop
and design the optimum mix of performance capabilities which can
be accommodated within production and life-cycle cost
affordability constraints. In an effort to optimize streamlined
technical and business approaches, the program is using the
special authority given to DARPA to conduct prototype development
and acquisition experiments outside the normal constraints of the
Federal Acquisition Regulations.
During the six-month Phase I of the Arsenal Ship Program,
the five industry teams selected today will perform various trade-
off studies and will undertake the initial Arsenal Ship design
concept based upon the Ship Capabilities Document and the Concept
of Operations, with an overall concentration on affordability.
This effort will support the contractors formal Arsenal Ship
design concepts to be submitted and evaluated for a Phase II
downselect to two industry teams to further develop their
designs.
In Phase II, which will last one year, the two industry
teams selected will develop their proposed concepts and
performance specifications into functional designs consisting of
an integrated engineering and cost baseline for the Arsenal Ship
Program.
After Phase II, one industry team will be selected to enter
into Phase III. During this phase, the industry team chosen will
complete its detail design and construct an Arsenal Ship
Demonstrator as well as provide an irrevocable offer to construct
five additional Arsenal Ships and convert the Arsenal Ship
Demonstrator into a fully operational asset in the production
phase (Phase V). Phase IV consists of performance testing and a
fleet evaluation.
The program is managed by the Arsenal Ship Joint Program
Office, under the cognizance of DARPA, and includes
representatives from the Naval Sea Systems Command and the Office
of Naval Research.
