Surface Navy 2019: US Navy looks to future fleet ambitions
As the US Navy maps out a long term plan for its future surface fleet a service official said that the problematic Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) programme was now doing ‘just fine’.
Speaking on 15 January at the annual Surface Navy Association event in Washington, DC, VADM Richard Brown, commander, naval surface forces/commander, naval surface force, US Pacific Fleet, said that the LCS are capable ships but acknowledged that ‘the class really starts at LCS 5’ with LCS 1 through 4 seen more as research and development vessels.
Brown also said that the LCS would be deployed ‘this year’.
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