(LCS) UPDATE 2-Lockheed, Austal extend ship offers; hearing set

[unhappycamper]

UPDATE 2-Lockheed, Austal extend ship offers; hearing set
Mon Dec 13, 2010 7:27pm EST
By Andrea Shalal-Esa

WASHINGTON, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and other top Navy officials will testify at a surprise Senate hearing on Tuesday about a controversial plan to buy 10 warships from both Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) and Australia's Austal Ltd (ASB.AX), instead of picking one winner.

The Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was hastily arranged after the panel's top Republican, Senator John McCain, said he would oppose the change, arguing Congress needed more information given the troubled cost and schedule history of the Littoral Combat Ship program.

Mabus will be joined at the hearing by Navy acquisition chief Sean Stackley and Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Gary Roughead, Senate aides said.

Officials from the Government Accountability Office and Congressional Research Service, two congressional agencies that have also raised questions about the Navy's new acquisition plan, were also slated to testify, they said.

The Navy announced earlier on Monday that Lockheed and Austal have agreed to extend the pricing in their bids for the new coastal ship by two weeks to Dec. 30, giving the U.S. Navy more time to convince Congress to approve the revamped plan.



unhappycamper comment: Since pretty much every naval vessel costs over $500 million a pop these days, I guess our congresscritters want to feed the MIC monster.

The first two of these ships cost over $1.2 billion dollars which is impressive if you consider the fact they were supposed to cost only around $200 million, delivered.