Navy secures multi-ship amphib buy, saving estimated $1B: Lawmaker

WASHINGTON — The Navy told lawmakers this week that it has secured a multi-ship deal with HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding to buy four amphibious warships in a block deal estimated to save the service nearly $1 billion, a senior lawmaker said today.

The four ships that will be purchased under the deal are three San Antonio-class amphibious transport docks (LPD-33 in fiscal 2025, LPD-34 in FY27, LPD-35 in FY-29) and one amphibious assault ship (LHA-10 in FY-27), according to Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which oversees Navy shipbuilding.

“Today is a great day for American shipbuilding and our Navy’s ability to deter China in the years ahead,” Wicker said in a written statement. “As I have long noted — including in my recent ‘Peace Through Strength’ report — the multi-ship buy of warships is a cost-effective way to provide stability for the industrial base on key shipbuilding programs. I look forward to seeing these contracts through to their execution, and I believe that additional benefits could be obtained if we increase funding for material procurement in bulk.”

POLITICO first reported that the service informed lawmakers about the deal in a Wednesday letter that said the ships “will support amphibious assault, special operations, and expeditionary warfare of US Marines, moving Marines into theater and supporting humanitarian and contingency missions on short notice.”

RELATED: Multi-ship Amphib Buy Could Net $900M In Savings, Say Navy, Marine Corps Officials

Capt. Clay Doss, a spokesman for Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro, told Breaking Defense, “The Navy continues to work with Congress to fund, build and deliver the most capable warships to our warfighters.”

“Certification of the amphibious multi-ship procurement contract award demonstrates the Navy’s support for maintaining 31 amphibious warfare ships, and if awarded, would provide American taxpayers with significant savings,” he continued.

Kimberly Aguillard, a spokeswoman for HII, deferred questions on the deal to the Navy, but said the company “reiterate[s] our commitment to supporting the mission and the joint Navy and Marine Corps team by meeting the minimum requirement of 31 amphibious ships. Our shipbuilders stand ready to serve the nation.”

The multi-ship buy has been years in the making. Lawmakers in successive legislative sessions have repeatedly prodded senior Navy brass to act on authorities Congress gave them to pursue a multi-ship deal for amphibious warships.

Del Toro and other senior brass signaled earlier this year that they were actively negotiating the deal with HII’s Mississippi-based Ingalls Shipbuilding and, at that time, estimated the savings would range between $900 million and $1 billion over one-off acquisitions.

The deal, which can be executed 30 days following the formal notification to Congress, would be a boon to the industrial base that craves the stability of knowing what ships they can expect to come down production lines years in advance.

“On behalf of over 650 companies across the nation in the amphibious warship industrial base, this multi-ship purchase would allow us to retain our skilled workforce, get ahead of inflation and avoid supply chain disruptions, resulting in efficiencies for cost and delivery time,” Paul Roden, chairman of the Amphibious Warship Industrial Base Coalition, told Breaking Defense earlier this year.