Surface Navy 2013: Huntington Ingalls pitches LPD 17 variants for BMD missions

The builder of the US Navy's (USN) San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship is circulating the concept design of a multimission platform based on its LPD 17 hull that could be configured for ballistic missile defence (BMD), among other specialised missions.

Officials from Ingalls Industries, a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), told reporters at the Surface Navy Association's National Symposium on 16 January that they are sharing the idea of Flight II variants with USN officials to see if there are any prospects for keeping the LPD 17 production line running following deliveries of the 11th and final San Antonio-class ship in 2017.

"We'd like to continue the LPD production line," said Irwin Edenzon, president of Ingalls Industries, during the media briefing. "We'd like to build another LPD, which keeps the production line hot and use it to do some of the work to start towards transition."

Billed as a next-generation amphibious transport dock that is adaptable for mission-specific payloads, the Flight II LPD 17 takes its design cues from the USN's Harpers Ferry-class dock landing ship (LSD), said Ingalls Industries' Mike Duthu, programme manager for LPD 17.