Lockheed Martin has delivered LCS 19 the 10th Littoral Combat Ship to US Navy.

On February 6, 2020, American Companies Lockheed Martin and Fincantieri Marinette Marine have delivered the future USS St. Louis, Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) 19, to the U.S. Navy. LCS 19 is the tenth Freedom-variant LCS designed, built and delivered by the Lockheed Martin-led industry team and will be commissioned in Pensacola, Florida, this summer.

USS St. Louis LCS 19 Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) was launched in December 2018. (Picture source video footage Youtube account Gavyn Crawford)

With LCS 19’s delivery, the U.S. Navy has now 10 Freedom-variant Littoral Combat Ships in the fleet. LCS 7 recently deployed, and it is gratifying to know that our team has delivered a ship that is relevant for today’s fight and that is needed around the world.

Today, the Freedom-variant LCS delivers advanced capability in anti-submarine, surface, and mine countermeasure missions. LCS was designed to evolve with the changing security environment. Today, as we see an increase in near-peer competition from large nation-states, Lockheed Martin is partnering with the Navy to evolve LCS to meet these threats. Upgrades are already underway – the LCS computing infrastructures are receiving cyber upgrades and naval strike missiles are being installed in support of upcoming deployments.

The Freedom-class is one of two classes of the littoral combat ship program, built for the United States Navy. It has a length of 118.1 m, a full load displacement of approximately 3.450 metric tons, and can achieve 47 knots (87 km/h; 54 mph). The design incorporates a large reconfigurable seaframe to allow rapidly interchangeable mission modules, a flight deck with integrated helicopter launch, recovery and handling system and the capability to launch and recover boats (manned and unmanned) from both the stern and side.

The core crew will be 50 sailors, usually joined by a mission package crew and an aviation detachment for a total crew of about 98. It has a hanger for Two MH-60 helicopters or one MH-60 helicopter and one Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (MQ-8 Firescout). Mission systems include COMBATSS-21 combat management system, automated radio room, and an open architecture total ship computing environment. This ship is armed with TRS-4D Air Search Radar, SeaRAM (r) medium caliber 57 mm Mk 110 gun, gunfire control system and decoy launching system.