Amphibious Coalition Forecasts Benefits of Multi-Ship Amphib Ship Buy

By Richard R. Burgess, Senior Editor

ARLINGTON, Va. — The industry association for suppliers for the builder of U.S. Navy’s amphibious warfare fleet sees immediate benefits this year and the next one for its member companies, the association’s survey said.

In its annual survey of 219 member companies, the Amphibious Warfare Industrial Base Coalition (AWIBC) said that a majority of its member companies affirmed that the Navy’s announcement last year of a multi-ship buy will benefit their companies.

The survey focused on the August 2024 announcement by then-Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro that the Navy would procure four amphibious warfare ships — one America-class amphibious assault ship (LHA) and three Flight II San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ships (LPDs) in a bundle procurement according to the below schedule:

LPD 33 in FY25

LPD 34 in FY27

LHA 10 in FY27

LPD 35 in FY29

The four ships in the procurement would be built at the HII Ingalls Shipbuilding shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi. 

“Our survey asked specifically about the impacts this bundle will have on the supplier base,” said Jack Feenick, a spokesman for the AWIBC. “We also included questions about the overall health of the industrial base, touching on key areas like workforce, training, inflation, and supply chain disruptions. Below are some of the key findings from our survey and attached is an infographic that provides some more insight on the data.”

Amphibious Warship Industrial Base Coalition (AWIBC) Survey

(Conducted survey from October – November 2024 from a sample of 219 total suppliers.)

65% of amphibious warship suppliers say that the bundle buy will lead to immediate benefits starting in 2025 or 2026.

82% of suppliers that support both amphibious ships and submarines agree that bundle buys benefit their capability to deliver on orders as well as their overall capacity.

52% say the bundle purchase will strengthen the shipbuilding industrial base to meet the demand of today and tomorrow

46% say the bundle purchase enables the hiring, retention, and training of a workforce

42% say the bundle purchase helps invest in equipment to ensure quality and on-time delivery

Consistent with findings from our survey last year, the top three challenges facing suppliers are:

Inflation

Workforce training and retention

Supply chain disruptions

Currently, only 10% of amphibious warship suppliers are operating at full capacity.

74% of suppliers who say they are sole-source/single-source supplier to the Navy are amphib suppliers.

Suppliers say that multi-ship procurements and earlier AP [advance procurement] funding are most likely factors to drive down material costs, help meet delivery schedules and improve their workforce and facilities.