STARs INDUSTRY NEWS
JEANNE KOUHESTANI • ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Littoral Combat Ship
New ship designed by Lockheed Martin to
counter asymmetric threats.
Drug smugglers have had a real wake-up call since the Navy’s ;rst littoral combat ship (LCS) began cruis- ing Caribbean and Paci;c waters in February. With
the use of its MH-60S helicopter and help from an onboard
U.S. Coast Guard detachment, USS Freedom snagged more
than ;ve tons of cocaine, two “go-fast” vessels, and 13 suspects during three seizures in the Caribbean and one in the
Paci;c in February and March.
;e Lockheed Martin–designed surface combatant vessel was certainly proving its mettle during its maiden voyage.
“;ere have been four events and a total of about 10,000
pounds of cocaine removed from potential arrival in whatever nation it was going to—the U.S. or Mexico—and we are
quite pleased with the results,” Freedom Commanding O;cer CDR Randy Garner, USN, told T;; O;;;;;; and other
reporters during a phone call from the ship.
“When a narcotics smuggler has a boat that goes 35
knots, and all of a sudden out of the darkness a 3,400-ton
ship shows up on his side and he sees he has a ship chas-
ing him that can keep up with or overtake him, that’s going
to help him decide whether or not he’s going to keep doing
what he’s doing,” CDR Garner said. “[ When there is] not
just the ship, not just the helicopter but a combination of
a helicopter on station with a ship on
station—both able to keep up and out-
pace and outmaneuver the boat—that’s
a pretty potent capability, and we saw
that in the drug interdictions.”
Running down drug smugglers is not
the LCS’s primary mission; stealth and
speed are just two of the ship’s capabili-
ties. ;e LCS can go where many larger
warships cannot: into the shallow-water
littorals where asymmetric threats are
most likely to emerge. With a sprint
speed of 46 knots, a dra; of only 13
feet, agile maneuverability, an advanced
networking system that communicates
with the ship’s deployed vehicles as well
as other naval vessels and aircra;, and
a modular system that enables a speedy
swap-out of mission-speci;c equip-
ment, the 3,400 ton, 378-foot LCS is a
whole new breed of U.S.
Navy warship.
LOCKHEED MARTIN PHOTO
