The US Navy is poised to scale back its purchase of 52 littoral combat ships made by Lockheed Martin Corp and Australia's Austal Ltd.
The US Defence Secretary has directed the navy to cut its overall buy of littoral combat ships to 32, foregoing 20 more of the small, fast and controversial warships, Pentagon sources told the Navy Times.
The total cost to develop and build the ships was projected to be $US32 billion ($A36.4 billion).
The decision was contained in a January 6 memo from acting deputy secretary of defence Christine Fox and came after the Pentagon received its final 2015 budget guidance from the White House.
But Austal said its existing contract with the US Navy to construct 12 Littoral Combat Ships has not changed.
The ships, designed to operate in shallow coastal waters, have been subject to questions about their ability to perform missions because some deem them too lightly armed or manned.
Share
