Lockheed Martin’s LCS design provides the Navy a common warship that seamlessly integrates into existing infrastructure and the current Fleet.
Both the combat system and external communications systems onboard the Lockheed Martin-designed USS Freedom (LCS 1) are common with other surface combatants.
USS Freedom’s combat system, called COMBATSS – 21, integrates open architecture components from the Aegis system and provides interoperability with the Fleet. The external communications system is adapted from the Common Radio Room, which was originally developed for U.S. submarines. These systems provide a common look and feel for the Sailors onboard and provide the Navy with savings due to common training and reduced manning.
The benefits of these systems were recently emphasized on USS Freedom’s maiden deployment, during which USS Freedom completed its first carrier strike group operations. The crew performed integrated at-sea operations with the USS Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group, confirming USS Freedom’s ability to easily integrate into the Navy’s current Fleet.
“The opportunity for Freedom to work with a carrier strike group for the first time is icing on the cake of our first operational deployment,” said Cmdr. Randy Garner, Freedom’s commanding officer in a Navy press release. “We are demonstrating how Freedom and future littoral combat ships are capable of working as part of a CSG when needed.”
