Should the Navy decide to downselect to a single builder, Lockheed Martin [LMT] is confident its Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) will emerge victorious against Austal’s Independence variant, a company official said Monday.Although the service originally planned to split its 52-ship buy between the two vendors, the companies may face a head-to-head competition if the Pentagon implements a December memo from Defense Secretary Ashton Carter directing the Navy to cut the LCS program of record to 40 ships and to…
