Lockheed Martin Delivers LCS-7 Freedom-Class Ship To US Navy

Lockheed Martin has delivered the seventh Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) to the US Navy on Friday.

The fourth Freedom-variant Littoral Combat Ship is scheduled to be commissioned in Detroit on Oct. 22. Currently, the company is in full-rate production of the Freedom-variant, with six ships under construction at Fincantieri Marinette Marine (FMM) and three others in long-lead material procurement, the company announced Monday.

The ship's modular design and plug-and-play architecture enables the US Navy to achieve increased capacity and capability at a fraction of the cost of other platforms.

LCS 7 will be the sixth US Navy ship named USS Detroit. Previous ships to bear the name included a Sacramento-class fast combat support ship, an Omaha-class light cruiser, a Montgomery-class cruiser and two 19th century sloops of war.

The Lockheed Martin-led LCS team is comprised of shipbuilder Fincantieri Marinette Marine, naval architect Gibbs & Cox, and more than 500 suppliers in 37 states. With 40 percent reconfigurable shipboard space, the hull of the ship is suitable to accommodate additional lethality and survivability upgrades associated with the Freedom-variant Frigate.