NASSCO Secures $6.7 Billion Block Buy for Eight Fleet Oilers

General Dynamics NASSCO has secured a $6.7 billion block buy contract for eight more John Lewis-class fleet oilers, according to Naval Sea Systems Command. The program is on track to become the longest Navy production series ever for NASSCO, president Dave Carver told the local Times of San Diego. 

The John Lewis-class are civilian-crewed oilers designed to serve U.S. Navy carriers and surface combatants. They are equipped for underway replenishment, and carry much of the same technology used aboard the previous Henry J. Kaiser-class oilers. They have enough tank volume for 160,000 barrels of fuel, and a larger capacity for dry stores than their predecessors.   

Three Lewis-class vessels have been delivered but none are in service overseas; these first few ships are being kept closer to home for testing and evaluation for now. (Operator Military Sealift Command has also reportedly encountered manning challenges, forcing choices among which vessel assets to crew and deploy).

The contract prices the next set of Lewis-class ships at about $840 million each, up from $530 million each in 2016, when the contract was signed for the first six hulls.  

The director of Naval Sea Systems Command's amphib, auxiliary and sealift office told USNI that the cost hike addresses the increase in labor and material costs after the pandemic, as well as the uncertainty about future inflation. The contract will run well into the next decade.