Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and Fincantieri Marinette Marine delivered the future USS St. Louis, Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) 19, to the U.S. Navy. The future USS St. Louis completed Acceptance Trials in Lake Michigan in December. “With LCS 19’s delivery, the U.S. Navy has 10 Freedom-variant Littoral Combat Ships in the fleet. LCS 7 recently […]

DefenceTalkThe U.S. government awarded Lockheed Martin an Undefinitized Contract Action (UCA) award for the production of the Multi-Mission Surface Combatant for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Lockheed Martin is being awarded a contract totaling $450 million to begin the detailed design and planning for construction of four Multi-Mission Surface Combatants (MMSC) that will be built […]https://www.defencetalk.com/lockheed-martin-begins-production-of-multi-mission-surface-combatant-for-saudi-arabia-71745/

DefenceTalkThe US Navy has issued an intention to award a sole-source contract to Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace AS for the equipment and flight test support services in support of Naval Strike Missile (NSM) Foreign Comparative Testing (FCT) Phase II demonstration test. With this, the US Navy continues the successful testing of NSM on US Navy’s […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-navy-to-install-nsm-on-littoral-combat-ship-for-deployment-67399/

DefenceTalkThe US government has approved an $11 billion deal to sell Saudi Arabia four advanced warships, officials said Tuesday, amid mounting regional tension. Saudi Arabia is modernizing its eastern fleet, which faces off against Iranian forces across the oil-rich Gulf. The four ships, based on the US Navy’s littoral combat ship, are relatively small but […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-to-sell-saudi-arabia-four-advanced-warships-65679/

DefenceTalkWeapon system tracks and engages target in LCS 4 exercise For the first time, the U.S. Navy successfully fired a tactical missile from a SeaRAM launcher on an Independence variant littoral combat ship. The missile was launched Aug. 14 during a live-fire exercise at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division sea range off the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/first-searam-missile-fired-us-navy-littoral-combat-ship-65403/

DefenceTalkSecretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced April 17 that the next Freedom-variant littoral combat ship (LCS) will be named USS St. Louis. The future USS St. Louis, designated LCS 19, will be the seventh ship to bear the name. The first St. Louis, a sloop of war, was launched in 1828. It spent the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-navy-names-19th-littoral-combat-ship-63916/

DefenceTalkThe Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center (NAVFAC EXWC) completed tests on a prototype reverse osmosis (RO) system for the Navy’s littoral combat ships (LCS) in February. The Littoral Combat Ship Program Office (PMS 501) will move forward with funding from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) for development of a hardened Reverse Osmosis […]https://www.defencetalk.com/navfac-exwc-tests-new-ro-system-for-littoral-combat-ships-63329/

DefenceTalkFour US warships designed to fight in coastal areas similar to Southeast Asian waters will operate out of Singapore by 2018, a senior US Navy official said Tuesday, further underscoring Washington’s military tilt to Asia. The “rotational deployment” of the vessels, called littoral combat ships (LCS), comes as China continues to flex its muscles in […]https://www.defencetalk.com/four-us-littoral-combat-ships-lcs-operate-singapore-63148/

DefenceTalkThe Navy’s $23 billion Littoral Combat Ship is less able to survive an attack than other U.S. warships, according to the Pentagon’s top weapons tester. Revised standards adopted for the vessel intended to operate in shallow coastal waters “continue to accept the risk the crew would need to abandon ship under circumstances that would not […]https://www.defencetalk.com/littoral-combat-ships-survival-in-an-attack-questioned-60122/

DefenceTalkNorthrop Grumman Corporation (NOC) and the U.S. Navy successfully flew the unmanned MQ-8B Fire Scout simultaneously with the MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter for the first time. The capability demonstrates how a mix of aircraft can increase a ship commander’s intelligence-gathering capabilities aboard the Littoral Combat Ship. The flight tests took place May 12, aboard the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/fire-scout-uav-seahawk-tested-on-lcs-1-59885/