The US Navy’s future USS St Louis has completed acceptance trials in Lake Michigan, Lockheed Martin announced on 16 December.
The vessel, Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) 19, will now progress to final outfitting and fine-tuning before delivery, which is slated for early 2020.
The tenth Freedom-variant LCS will join the US Navy’s fleet to carry out a range of roles including anti-submarine, surface and mine countermeasure missions.
Joe DePietro, vice president and general manager, small combatants and ship systems, Lockheed Martin, said: ‘The LCS fleet is growing in numbers and capability, and LCS 19's completion of acceptance trials means the navy will shortly have ten Freedom-variant fast, focused-mission ships in the fleet.
'As each Freedom-variant hull deploys, we seek out and incorporate fleet feedback and lessons learned to roll in capabilities for new hulls. As a result, LCS 19 includes a solid-state radar, upgraded communications suite, increased self-defence capabilities and topside optimisation, among other updates.’
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Shipbuilders are saying the programme is going ahead on time as the government estimates 7.7 million tonnes of steel are needed for 2026 infrastructure projects.
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