Navy Awards Contract for Third LCS

The Navy announced it is awarding a $197.6 million contract option to a team lead by Lockheed Martin for construction of the third Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). LCS 3 will be the second built by the Lockheed Martin team. The contract was announced on June 26, 2006. “This contract award is a testament to the strong resolve of both the Navy and industry to get these highly capable ships into the water as quickly as possible,” said Rear Adm. Charles Hamilton, the Navy’s Program Executive Officer for Ships. “LCS will introduce unprecedented speed, agility and flexibility into the littoral battlespace. The rapid acquisition of these modular warships sets a new standard for procurement in support of the warfighter.” The Lockheed Martin team will begin construction of LCS 3 in January 2007 at Bollinger Shipyards in Lockport, La., and ship delivery is planned for 2009. It will later be homeported in San Diego, Calif., with the first two ships of the class. Lockheed Martin Corp.’s Maritime Systems & Sensors unit, Moorestown, NJ, is the prime contractor. Teammates include Bollinger Shipyards, Lockport, LA, ship designer Gibbs & Cox, Arlington, Va., and Marinette Marine, Marinette, Wis., which is currently building LCS 1 Freedom. Under a separate contract, General Dynamics is currently building LCS 2 Independence, with an option to build a second ship. A fast, agile, and networked surface combatant, LCS will utilize focused-mission packages and deploy manned and unmanned vehicles to combat challenging shallow-water threats, specifically mines, diesel submarines and fast surface craft. Flexibly designed to accommodate current and future generations of helicopters as well as unmanned air, surface and sub-surface vehicles, the ships’ modular, focused-mission design will provide Combatant Commanders the critical warfighting capabilities and operational flexibility to assure littoral dominance for the joint force. LCS will also perform Special Operations Forces (SOF) support, high-speed transit, Maritime Interdiction Operations (MIO), Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), and Anti-Terrorism/Force Protection (AT/FP). While complementing capabilities of the Navy’s larger multi-mission surface combatants, LCS will also be networked to share tactical information with other Navy aircraft, ships, submarines, and joint units.