Littoral combat ship

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The Littoral Combat Ship is the first of the U.S. Navy's planned next-generation surface combatants. Intended for operations in the littoral region close to shore, the LCS is smaller than the Navy's guided missile frigates and sacrifices air defense and surface-to-surface capabilities for speed, mission module space and a shallow draft. It will have equipment to support anti-mine and special forces missions, plus robotic air, surface, and underwater vehicles. The first LCS was laid down in 2005; it is slated for delivery in 2007.

Image:LittoralCombatShip-ArtistsRendering.jpg The concept behind the Littoral Combat Ship, as described by Secretary of the Navy Gordon R. England, is to "create a small, fast, maneuverable and relatively inexpensive member of the DD(X) family of ships." The ship is to be easily reconfigured for in multiple roles, including anti-submarine warfare, mine countermeasures, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, homeland defense, maritime intercept, special operations, and logistics. It is also intended to be able to operate with carrier strike or surface action groups.

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Development and funding

In 2004, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and Raytheon submitted preliminary designs to the Navy. It was decided to produce two vessels each (Flight 0) of the Lockheed Martin design (LCS-1 and LCS-3) and of the General Dynamics design (LCS-2 and LCS-4). After these are brought into service, and experience has been gathered on the usability and efficiency of the designs, the future design for the class will be chosen (Flight I). This may be a straight decision to use one or the other design in whole, or a combined form made by cherry-picking the best features from each.

On 9 May, 2005, Secretary of the Navy Gordon England announced that the first LCS would be named USS Freedom (LCS-1). Her keel was laid down on 2 June 2005 in Marinette Marine, Marinette, Wisconsin. [1].

On 19 January, 2006, the keel for the General Dynamics trimaran, USS Independence (LCS-2), was laid at the Austal USA shipyards in Mobile, Alabama.

Some believe that LCS is a "preemptive strike" intended to create a successor to FFGs before Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld can replace them with "Streetfighter": a concept for a series of corvette-sized attack boats.

An international task force has been put together to determine the usefulness of the Littoral Combat Ship in the navies of the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Germany.

In late December 2005 the House and Senate agreed to fund another two LCSs. The Navy currently plan to build 55 of these ships.

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See also

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External links

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