Mixed Navy-Coast Guard Crew To Man Sea Fighter Catamaran

By RICHARD R. BURGESS, Managing Editor

The new catamaran vessel once known as the X-Craft has been named Sea Fighter and will be manned by a mixed Navy-Coast Guard crew as a development platform for the Littoral Combat Ship and the Coast Guard’s Deepwater program.

The Littoral Surface Craft-Experimental (X-Craft), developed by the Office of Naval Research, Titan Corp. and BMT Nigel Gee and Associates, Southampton, U.K., and built by Nicholas Brothers Boat Builders in Freeland, Wash., was christened Sea Fighter (FSF-1) on Feb. 5. (FSF stands for fast sea frame.)

When the Sea Fighter is delivered to the Navy April 30, a crew of 26 — 16 Navy and 10 Coast Guard — will man the vessel. It will be based in San Diego.

The 262-foot Sea Fighter is a high-speed catamaran intended to “evaluate the hydrodynamic performance, structural behavior, mission flexibility and propulsion of high-speed vessels” in littoral waters, Navy officials said in a release.

Nigel Gee, designer of the 950-ton Sea Fighter, said that the vessel could travel 4,000 nautical miles without refueling, land helicopters in sea states of 4 or 5, recover watercraft in sea state 4 conditions over the stern ramp and provide crew comfort in sea states 4 or 5 for long periods.

The Sea Fighter features a large mission bay which can hold up to a dozen 20-foot mission modules, enabling the vessel to participate in such missions as force protection, mine countermeasures, antisubmarine warfare, amphibious assault and humanitarian assistance. The vessel’s flight deck can accommodate two H-60 helicopters or unmanned aerial vehicles.

The Sea Fighter is powered by an integrated propulsion system that includes two GE Transportation LM2500 gas turbine engines and two MTU 16V 595 TE90 diesel engines that drive four high-efficiency Rolls-Royce Kamewa 125 SII waterjets. The vessel can reach speeds of up to 50 knots. The waterjets also allow the vessel to move sideways, which simplifies docking and station keeping.

Sikorsky Declines To Challenge Navy’s Marine One Decision

Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., builder of presidential transport helicopters since 1957, has decided not to protest the Navy’s selection of Lockheed Martin’s competing design to replace the current presidential helicopter fleet.

Lockheed Martin was awarded a $1.8 billion contract for the system development and demonstration phase and will build 23 model US101 helicopters, derivatives of the AgustaWestland EH101, a British/Italian helicopter already in service with several nations. Lockheed Martin is teaming with Bell Helicopter Textron and Agusta-Westland, which is owned by Italy’s Finmeccanica SpA, on the project.

The US101s will be assembled by Bell Helicopter Textron in Fort Worth, Texas, and replace the Sikorsky VH-3D and VH-60N helicopters flown for presidential support by Marine Helicopter Squadron One.

Sikorsky spokesman Ed Steadham said Navy officials considered the company’s S-92 Super Hawk helicopter offer “fully compliant and, in fact, had yielded the best performing aircraft.” However, Navy officials told Sikorsky that the US101 — particularly its cabin — more closely met the Navy’s requirements.

Sikorsky officials also said they did not want to take any action that might delay or conflict with an investigation by the Government Accountability Office into the issues of “performing heightened security work in an offshore security environment” regarding the helicopter, referring to the fact that some of the work on the US101 would be performed by foreign companies. The VH-92 would have been built entirely within the United States.

While Sikorsky is not protesting the decision, the congressional delegation from Connecticut, home of Sikorsky’s facilities, is not letting the decision rest.

“We continue to believe that the president, our commander in chief, should fly in the very best helicopter made in America,” the delegation wrote in a letter to Secretary of the Navy Gordon R. England. “The only one that meets that standard is Sikorsky.”

“I believe that there is still some uncertainty about the ability of AgustaWestland to provide ‘Yankee White’ [presidential] level of security in their construction facilities, which is why I continue to pursue legislation in Congress to ensure that no matter who the manufacturer is, the president’s helicopter is 100 percent made in America,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn.

Lockheed Martin plans to build a plant in Owego, N.Y., to support production of the US101. Lockheed Martin spokesman Mike Drake said the US101 team will include more than 200 suppliers in 41 states.

The US101 is scheduled to reach operational capability in 2009. Delivery of the final aircraft is scheduled for 2014.

In a related matter, Naval Facilities Engineering Command announced Feb. 1 that the Navy will build a test facility, including a 202,000-square-foot hangar and an 11-story control tower, at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., to support development and flight-testing of the new presidential helicopter. Hensel Phelps Construction Co. has been awarded $36.8 million of a projected $84.4 million to build the facility.

Defense Industry Notes

Electric Boat Co. — a unit of General Dynamics — has been awarded a $1.5 billion Naval Sea Systems Command contract modification, which it will share with partner Northrop Grumman Newport News Shipbuilding, for advance procurement for three Virginia-class attack submarines.

Integrated Coast Guard Systems — a joint venture of Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin — has been awarded a contract to begin construction of the second Maritime Security Cutter, Large (WMSL). The WMSL is the largest class of ship planned under the Coast Guard’s Integrated Deepwater modernization program.

National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. (NASSCO) — a General Dynamics company — has been awarded a $586 million Naval Sea Systems Command contract for the seventh and eighth Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo/ammunition ships (T-AKEs). The order brings the total contract value to $2.5 billion. The contract includes options for NASSCO to build four additional T-AKEs in San Diego.

The 50th ship of the Arleigh Burke class of guided-missile destroyers, the Kidd, was christened on Jan. 22 at the Northrop Grumman Ship Systems Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss. The USS James E. Williams, also built by Northrop Grumman in Pascagoula as the 45th ship of the class, was commissioned Dec. 11 at Naval Weapons Station Charleston, S.C. The 46th ship of the class, built by Bath Iron Works — a General Dynamics company — was christened Bainbridge Nov. 13 in Bath, Maine.