Will Anyone Win the Contract to Build the Navy's New Warship?
Two years ago, the U.S. Navy issued a challenge: Faced with the spiraling cost of -- and incessant delays in -- building new warships, the Navy asked its defense contractors to propose a new design for amphibious warships to carry Marines into battle. Furthermore, these contractors were asked to keep their budgets close to $100 million per ship -- and deliver the fleet to the Navy in record time: Just six years start to finish.
It was an ambitious project for the Pentagon...and it proved a bridge too far.
As first envisaged, the Navy's new Light Amphibious Warship (LAW) would bend the definition of the term "warship" almost to breaking. Measuring as little as 200 feet stem to stern and displacing as few as 1,000 tons (although some designs are bigger), each LAW would seem like a dinghy if placed next to the 1,100-foot bulk and 100,000 ton-displacement of a Ford-class aircraft carrier.
Source Fool.com
