Lockheed Martin Wins $22.7 Million for Services in Support of Saudi Arabia's LCS Program

Lockheed Martin has won $22.7 million modification contract to exercise an option for class services in support of Littoral Combat Ship program for Saudi Arabia. 

Work is expected to be completed by July 2018, US Department of Defense said in a statement Wednesday.

In May this year, Saudi Arabia agreed to a $6-billion deal to purchase four Lockheed Martin-built frigates based on the company’s Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship, as part of a major Foreign Military Sales.

The primary difference between the Freedom-class and the Saudi-variant is the lack of modular mission space found in the U.S. version of the Littoral Combat Ship.

The frigate will be built around an 8-cell Mk-41 vertical launch system and a 4D air search radar. At about 4,000-tons, the frigate can field a crew of 100 to 130. It runs on a power plant of two Rolls Royce MT-30 gas turbines and two Colt-Pielstick diesel engines. The ship will field eight RGM-84 Harpoon Block II anti-ship missiles (ASM), anti-submarine warfare (ASW) sonar suites, and torpedoes.