Huntington Ingalls Industries responded to the Navy's request for proposals this week on analyzing potential cost savings of a two-aircraft-carrier buy, according to the company's chief executive.
Mike Petters, the company's chief executive, told investors today he is most concerned about the aircraft carrier supply chain that includes over 5,000 suppliers throughout the country. HII is focused on making sure the supply base has the support it needs to expand its workforce.
The company's view is if industry can build aircraft carriers every three or four years instead of five to six years like it does today, it will be more efficient and will stabilize the workforce and supply base, he said.
Petters noted this is the first time in 30 years the United States has proposed a multiship procurement of aircraft carriers.
"That's pretty cool," he said, adding this is the "most exciting shipbuilding environment in 30 years."
Inside Defense reported last month Newport News Shipbuilding estimated a two-ship carrier buy would save the Navy roughly $1.6 billion in commercially furnished equipment.
In March, Navy acquisition executive Hondo Geurts told reporters that in keeping with the National Defense Strategy, the service developed an acquisition plan to combine CVN-80 and CVN-81 procurements.
The Navy's fiscal year 2019 budget request sets aside funding for both CVN-80 and CVN-81. The service awarded the initial contract to NNS for CVN-80 in May 2016.
It is not a question of whether the service will buy the carriers but what the procurement strategy is, Geurts said.
"I see savings coming from multiple different areas: One will be reduction in labor, one will be more efficient suppliers [since] they can build in a bulk quantity, and then the third is we'll have a very similar design for both so we can really improve the learning as we continue to build more carriers," he said.
Geurts said if it looks like a good deal for the government, the Navy will have the contracting strategy finalized by the end of the calendar year.
"We would need congressional support and congressional language so I would assume that would work through the summer enactment cycle into early fall," he said.
The Navy would need statutory relief from Congress to incrementally fund CVN-80 and CVN-81 at the same time. "It's similar to what we did in the 80s in the Reagan era," Geurts said.
In a joint statement issued Monday, House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee Chairman Rob Wittman (R-VA) and Senate Armed Services seapower subcommittee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) commended the Navy on its plan to pursue a block buy in FY-19 for the next two Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers.
"The bottom line is that this block buy will save billions for taxpayers, and the Navy is now on an accelerated time line to meet its 12-carrier requirement," Wicker said.
"The RFP released by the Navy today is a great step towards strengthening the Fleet," Wittman said. "A dual procurement allows the U.S. Navy to build to a fleet of 12 aircraft carriers more quickly as prescribed by the FY-18 National Defense Authorization Act -- which established that the Navy should maintain 355 ships, including 12 aircraft carriers."
Wicker and Wittman coauthored an amendment included in the FY-18 NDAA titled "Securing the Homeland by Increasing our Power on the Sea," which made it official policy for the country to achieve the Navy's 355-ship requirement.