December 30, 2003

Oregon Iron Works gets Sealion contract

Oregon Iron Works, Clackamas, Ore., is being awarded a $5,991,214 firm-fixed-price contract for the procurement of a second Sealion Technology Demonstration Craft.  Work will be performed in Clackamas, Ore., and is expected to be completed by December 2005.  Contract funding will expire by the end of the current fiscal year.  The contract was not competitively procured.  The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division, West Bethesda, Md., is the contracting activity. (N00167-04-C-0021)

The Sealion appears to be one of those projects that owes its existence as much to strong Congressional support as anything else. One of its major Congressional advocates is Congresswoman Darlene Hooley (OR-5). Back in September, when she announced House approval of $10 million in federal funding for Oregon Iron Works in the FY 2004 DOD appropriations conference report , she described the Sealion as a "multi-mission high speed, low signature technology craft [that] will be capable of supporting a variety of military missions.

"Possible missions supported by these technologies include covert delivery and extraction of a Navy SEAL team to the beach, mine identification and deactivation, clandestine surveillance of shore side and seaborne activity, reconnaissance for planned mission, and target interdiction," said a statement from Hooley's office. "The SEALION provides the Navy with a craft to support littoral operations for the Navy, for Naval Special Warfare, and for homeland defense."