By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON, March 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy on Wednesday said it planned to launch an open competition around fiscal 2017 for a next-generation missile, seeking to reassure weapons makers they still have prospects after a separate deal with Lockheed Martin Corp for 90 air-launched missiles sparked a formal protest.
Navy acquisition chief Sean Stackley told reporters the Lockheed program was limited in scope and the future, bigger missile development program would be open to all potential bidders.
"That will be competed. That is 100 percent competition," he said after a hearing held by the House Armed Services Committee's seapower and projection forces subcommittee.
Stackley defended the Pentagon's decision to order 90 long-range anti-ship missiles from Lockheed that were developed under a contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). He said the move was justified given the urgent needs of military commanders and said the initial DARPA research contract with Lockheed was awarded after a formal competition.
"The way to get it out there as quickly as possible is to take this system that DARPA has developed with Lockheed and build a limited number (of air-launched missiles) to get it out into the fleet's hands by the 2018 timeframe," he said.
Stackley said the decision required a special "justification and authorization" by the Pentagon's acquisition chief since it was a sole-source deal and that move had sparked a protest by a rival company.
He declined further comment, but said he wanted to make very clear that the larger procurement would be competitively bid.
Contract award protests have grown more common in recent years given the shrinking number of new weapons programs available.
Raytheon Co has spoken publicly about its concerns about the Pentagon's backing for the Lockheed missile, arguing that its Joint Stand-off Weapons-Extended Range (JSOW-ER) weapon would offer comparable capability at a far lower cost.
Stackley said the Navy would follow up on the sole-source deal with Lockheed in coming years with a full competition for surface-launched missiles, but gave no further details.
Rear Admiral Mathias Winter, the Navy's program executive officer for unmanned aviation and strike weapons, told Reuters in a separate interview the Navy moved ahead with a sole-source deal for the air-launched missile because of the urgent need.
He declined to give any details on the capabilities of the Lockheed missile, but said the goal was to start using the missiles on Air Force B-1 bombers and Navy F/A-18 fighter jets around fiscal 2018 or 2019 under a joint Navy-led program.