The US Navy has revealed the latest steps in its effort to fast-track the build of a new fleet of Medium Landing Ships (LSM) vessels based on off-the-shelf blueprints.
In the first move, the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) has completed the acquisition of technical data packs (TDPs) from Bollinger Shipyards Lockport and Damen Naval for their respective Israeli Logistics Support Vessel (ILSV) and LST-100 ship designs. In a second development, NAVSEA and the Medium Landing Ship Program Office (PMS 347) have issued a request for information (RFI) for firms interested in providing vessel construction management (VCM) services for LSM Block 1 build and delivery.
The LSM – previously known as the Light Amphibious Warship – is intended to provide the US Marine Corps with a new class of mid-size beaching amphibious platform to provide protected manoeuvre and mobility of Marine Littoral Regiments (MLRs) operating in austere and contested environments in the Indo-Pacific theatre. Acquisition of between 18 and 35 ships is projected to support three MLRs: the navy’s Fiscal Year 2026 mandatory Shipbuilding and Conversion, Navy (SCN) budget request has called for $1.96 billion for the procurement of an initial nine LSM ships.
The navy had originally planned to develop and build a bespoke LSM design, but this plan was abandoned in late 2024 when industry bids far exceeded the allocated budget. NAVSEA is now pursuing a revised acquisition strategy based on the accelerated procurement of a commercial/non-developmental item (CNDI) design.
According to NAVSEA, a CNDI design will significantly reduce the risk of cost and schedule growth because of its inherent maturity. Furthermore, it avoids the delay associated in developing an all-new design, and avoids the costs incurred with additional engineering development.
An RFI was released to industry by NAVSEA in January this year requesting details of existing designs that could potentially meet the LSM requirement. Following a review of 14 separate responses – 13 of which included production recommendations for nine distinct ship designs – the navy identified the Bollinger ILSV and Damen LST-100 as the only two viable CNDI vessel designs that could meet its top-level requirements.
NAVSEA has now confirmed the procurement of TDPs and licensing agreements for both the ILSV and LST-100 designs, enabling the navy to lay the groundwork for the future procurement of vessels on an accelerated acquisition timeline. The contract award to Damen was confirmed on 30 July, while the award to Bollinger Shipyards Lockport was notified on 8 August. Contract values remain confidential/business sensitive information and have not been disclosed.
Bollinger is being sole-sourced for the construction of the LSM Block 1 lead ship, to be named USS McClung (LSM-1). The company’s Pascagoula, Mississippi, yard delivered two ILSVs – INS Nahshon and INS Komemiyut – to the Israel Navy in 2023-24.
“[Although] both the ILSV and LST-100 designs have already been built for military use, only the ILSV has been built by a US shipyard in the United States, which is a requirement for ship construction funded with SCN [appropriations],” said NAVSEA in a justification and approval notice. “That Bollinger has already successfully built the ILSV in the United States reduces the performance risk associated with constructing a vessel from a build to print design, particularly by different shipyards, because the design already conforms to American conventions and measurements.
“Furthermore, the ILSV design’s existing readiness for use by American shipyards provides both time-saving and cost-saving advantages to support a quick build approach for initial vessels to meet the Marine Corps’ urgent need for landing ships.”
As regards Damen’s LST-100, NAVSEA said this design “provides capability very close to the original Capacity Development Document requirements, specifically in terms of embarked troop capacity, magazine and ammunition capacity, force protection, interoperability, and adaptability to future requirements”. It continued: “Furthermore, several foreign partner nations have chosen the LST-100 as the landing ship platform for their respective navies, which will provide the US Navy with forward located repair facilities and logistic support.”
Damen has previously delivered a single LST-100 vessel, NNS Kada, to the Nigerian Navy. A variant of the LST-100 design was in late 2024 selected as the basis for Australia’s eight-ship Landing Craft Heavy programme: a contract with Austal Australia remains pending.
In a separate move, NAVSEA and PMS 347 on 6 August released an RFI seeking information from qualified and experienced firms interested in providing VCM services for the construction of the LSM Block 1. In its sources sought notice, NAVSEA said that vessel construction “will take place at one or more United States shipyards that the VCM will recommend to the government,” adding that “the government and VCM will work collectively to select construction yards to balance capability, industrial base, cost and speed to delivery”.
VCM services are expected to include: award of contracts for construction of multiple LSM vessels; oversight and management of all aspects of vessel construction, including planning, scheduling, budgeting, and quality control; monitoring shipyard performance against the contract requirements, and reporting of production status and metrics; providing technical expertise and guidance to shipyards; performing configuration management of the vessel design across multiple build yards; negotiating pricing for long lead time and economic ordering quantity materials.
The VCM sources sought notice advised that each LSM vessel is expected to take 32-36 months to build. It added that the navy plans to award contracts for the construction of up to eight vessels, with delivery to be completed within six years of the VCM selection. Options for additional LSM buys are likely to be included, NAVSEA added.
