Navy buying hybrid advanced weapons elevator for land-based testing

The Navy will procure a hybrid version of the advanced weapons elevator integrated onto the aircraft carrier Gerald Ford (CVN-78) to be used for land-based testing through a $13 million indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract awarded last week to Federal Equipment Co.

The hybrid unit will be configurable as an upper- or lower-stage elevator and will be procured within the first year of the five-year contract, according to a justification and approval document published today on the Federal Business Opportunities website.

FEC will also provide associated technical support to troubleshoot and repair the unit as well as installation services to integrate it into the testing site at Naval Surface Warfare Center Philadelphia.

The advanced weapons elevator has proven to be one of the more problematic technologies integrated aboard the Navy's lead Ford-class aircraft carrier. Last month, Inside Defense reported the Navy requested $12.7 million be reprogrammed to re-baseline the advanced weapons elevator program.

The contract was not competitively awarded because "FEC is the only company with the exception of the shipbuilder . . . who is able to install the AWE system," the document states. Further, the shipbuilder has "relied heavily on FEC during installation to align, groom and troubleshoot the process."

Newport News Shipbuilding is CVN-78's prime contractor; however, the shipbuilder's name is redacted in the justification document.

The Navy also said it had limited access to technical data from which to produce a test unit if the service had competitively awarded the contract.

"Consequently, it would be impossible for another vendor to attempt to recreate the AWE system without a complete drawing and technical package," the document states.

"There have been previous attempts to require FEC to provide the complete drawing and technical package for the hybrid LBU, and those requests have resulted in absolute refusal from FEC," the document continues.

Work is expected to be completed by September 2023.