The U.S. Navy has awarded Fincantieri Marinette Marine (FMM) and Lockheed Martin Corp. a contract to build an additional 387.6'x57.7', 40-knot littoral combat ship (LCS).
The new LCS 31, with a draft of 14.1', will be the 16th ship of the LCS program, one of the Navy’s main shipbuilding programs. The Fincantieri and Lockheed Martin team is in full production of the Freedom-variant and has delivered seven ships to the Navy to date. Currently, there are seven ships in various stages of construction at Fincantieri Marinette Marine.
The construction contract for the LCS program's Freedom-variant was awarded to FMM in 2010. It relates to a new generation of midsized multirole vessels, designed for surveillance activities and coastal defense for deepwater operations as well as capabilities for addressing asymmetrical threats such as mines, silent diesel submarines and fast surface ships.
LCS Freedom-variant vessels have been successfully deployed to the Western Pacific.
