Navy’s Singapore Deployment of LCS to Include Two of Each Variant

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy’s plan to forward–deploy four littoral combat ships (LCSs) to Singapore will include two Freedom-class ships and two Independence-class ships, the LCS program executive officer said.

Speaking Jan. 14 to an audience at the Surface Navy Association symposium, Rear Adm. Brian K. Antonio, program executive officer, Littoral Combat Ships, said that two Freedom-class and two Independence-class LCSs would be forward-deployed to Singapore to enable a comparison of the two ship variants in a common operating environment.

So far, the Navy has forward-deployed the first two Freedom-class ships, USS Freedom and USS Fort Worth, in series. A third, Milwaukee, is in commission and is in Little Creek, Va., while the Navy and Lockheed Martin investigate its power failure during its voyage to the U.S. East Coast from the Marinette Marine Shipyard in Wisconsin. The Independence class, of which three — Independence, Coronado and Jackson — are in commission, has yet to deploy, but has been used for testing of mission packages.

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