Not looking so good for Austal on LCS contract...

Adm. on LCS decision, "all about procurement cost," w/cost cap of $480 million per ship & GD/Austal LCS-2 costing over $700 million, Lockheed/Martin LCS-1 looking like a winner:

From: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1819337020100218?type=marketsNews

"Cost is critical factor in LCS competition-US Navy"
Thu Feb 18, 2010 1:04pm EST
By Andrea Shalal-Esa

WASHINGTON, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Cost will be the critical factor the U.S. Navy uses to judge competing designs from General Dynamics Corp (GD.N) and Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) for a new class of fast, flexible, shallow-water warships, a top admiral said on Thursday.

Rear Admiral William Landay, program executive officer for Navy ships, said both designs met the Navy's requirements for its new Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), and the deciding factor would be procurement cost, even if one design offered certain advantages.

"While there are a number of factors in our RFP (request for proposals) ... in the end, for this particular acquisition, the cost of that ship is critically important to us, and that was our key overarching driver," Landay told reporters after addressing a conference hosted by Aviation Week magazine...

But at this point, procurement cost was the Navy's primary concern, given its plan to buy 55 of the ships and a congressional cost cap of $480 million per ship. "We're going to downselect to one, and the cost is going to be a critical piece of that. It's just the reality of it," Landay said.

The Navy gave industry the final terms for the competition in mid-January, and bids are in mid-March. It will pick a single winner to build 10 ships and combat systems for five more in late spring or early summer, Landay said...>>>Rest of Article>>>