NGSS’s Dur: ‘We Are One Shipyard’

By RICHARD R. BURGESS, Managing Editor

When Northrop Grumman Ship Systems (NGSS) was formed in 2001 from the purchase of Litton’s two shipyards — Avondale Shipyard in New Orleans and Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss. — the yards had distinct employees, expertise and clients. Avondale built auxiliary, sealift and medium-size amphibious ships; Ingalls built destroyers and large-deck amphibious ships. For a while, each yard maintained a distinct identity within NGSS, but that has now changed.

“We are no longer two shipyards. We are one shipyard,” said Philip Dur, president of NGSS. As the business sector reorganizes, he discarded the old distinction between Avondale and Ingalls as “anachronistic.”

Although the New Orleans and Pascagoula yards are 110 miles apart — with a major facility at Gulfport, Miss., in between — the increasingly routine cross-pollenization and work-sharing between the three locations has eliminated the distinction between them. Many of the company’s 20,000 employees shift between yards as their particular expertise is needed on a particular project.

With an eye on the increasingly difficult shipbuilding fiscal climate, Dur has implemented his “True North” initiative, with the goals of reducing overhead and realigning the company’s management structure. “We can spread overhead across multiple facilities,” he said.

One specific goal is to reduce the build times of the amphibious assault ships and San Antonio-class landing platform dock ships, as it has done with Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.

NGSS now has only one purchasing organization supplying all three facilities for its three business areas: surface warfare, expeditionary warfare and Coast Guard programs.

Dur considers the many classes of ships NGSS is building as “part of our corporate strength.”

“Northrop Grumman attaches the highest importance in the DD(X) (next-generation destroyer) program,” he said. “We are prepared to respond to the Navy’s acquisition strategy in Phase IV,” referring to the possible restructuring of the program by the Department of the Navy.

NGSS, which sold $3.6 billion worth of ships in 2004, plans to invest $463 million in capital improvements during the next five years. As of early 2005, the company had received state grants of $100 million and $50 million, respectively, from Mississippi and Louisiana. New large cranes have been added to the New Orleans yard and an additional construction bay has been built at Gulfport.

Dur is proposing that derivatives of the amphibious warfare ships currently being built by NGSS be adapted as platforms for the Sea Basing concept being studied by the sea services. He points out that the amphibious warfare ships already are designed to withstand damage from threats expected in the littoral zone, and that leveraging their design will “take a lot of uncertainty out of the cost” of designing the sea base platforms.

Boeing Shoots For Third Harpoon Block

Boeing is proposing an upgrade to its Harpoon II subsonic cruise missile, named Harpoon III, that would be equipped with a data link capability for target position updates in a littoral environment.

Harpoon II, developed through Boeing funding and sold to 11 nations, features a Global Positioning System receiver for precision strike against shipping and targets on land.

The U.S. Navy still uses only the Block 1C version, which is guided by a radar seeker that homes in on a maritime target, and is not as discriminating as more modern weapons.

Harpoon III would feature the addition of an ultra-high frequency radio data link that will give the missile the ability to transmit and receive updated target information.

Under the concept of operation, a ship would launch a Harpoon III against a target — such as a large patrol boat — over the horizon based on locating information. As the missile homes in toward the target, the controller on the ship receives updated radar information transmitted from the missile. The controller would pass commands to the missile with refined target data — discriminating ships from islands and other land masses — for the terminal run.

Because the missile does not have an infrared seeker, existing Harpoon missiles could be converted to Harpoon III versions. The Navy currently holds approximately 2,200 Harpoons in inventory.

Hercules Proposed As Sea Base Connector

Lockheed Martin is proposing its KC-130J Hercules cargo/tanker aircraft as a means of transporting troops and cargo from a sea base to an advance base ashore, sustaining a sea base by air or refueling strike aircraft.

A sea base, such as a container ship with a 1,200-foot flight deck, could handle flights of a KC-130J carrying a 40,000-pound load out to a destination 300 nautical miles away, according to Jack O’Banion, director of air mobility requirements for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co.

Unlike the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft or the CH-53E helicopter, the KC-130J can carry standard 20-foot containers.

In the tanker role, a KC-130J operating from a sea base could extend the radius of an F/A-18E/F Super Hornet strike fighter to 1,400 nautical miles from 620 nautical miles, O’Banion said.

In 1963, an older-model KC-130F demonstrated its ability to land on and takeoff from an aircraft carrier without use of arresting gear of catapults. The KC-130J would offer improved performance in landing and taking off from a sea base ship, he said.