The Navy formally accepted delivery of its eighth Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) during a ceremony Aug. 12 at the Fincantieri Marinette Marine (FMM) shipyard in Marinette, Wis.

The future USS Detroit (LCS-7) is the fourth Freedom-class variant delivered by a Lockheed Martin-led [LMT] team. The ship, which is designed to conduct anti-submarine warfare, mine countermeasure operations and surface warfare, is scheduled to be commissioned Oct. 22 in the city of Detroit. It will be based in San Diego. Six more Freedom-class ships are under construction at FMM.

USS Freedom (LCS-1). Photo: U.S. Navy.
USS Freedom (LCS-1). Photo: U.S. Navy.

A team led by Austal USA [ASB] is building the Independence-class variant. The Independence team has delivered four ships, most recently LCS-8 in June, and has six more under construction in Mobile, Ala.

The Navy plans to buy a total of 28 LCSs and 12 LCS-derived frigates. One of the LCS vendors will be chosen in a future competition to provide the frigates.

In other ship news Aug. 12, the Pentagon announced that the Navy has awarded a $490 million contract to Lockheed Martin to provide Aegis combat systems for new U.S., Japanese and South Korean destroyers.

The ships will receive Aegis Baseline 9, the latest version of the system, and will support missile defense and other missions. In a joint exercise in June, existing Aegis destroyers from the three countries shared data while detecting and tracking a simulated missile threat, Lockheed Martin noted.