Photo above: The littoral combat ship Independence (LCS 2) underway during builder's trials. Builder's trials are the first opportunity for the shipbuilder and the U.S. Navy to operate the ship underway, and provide an opportunity to test and correct issues before acceptance trials. (Photo courtesy Dennis Griggs General Dynamics)

The Littoral Combat Ship is a key element of the Navy's plan to address asymmetric threats of the twenty-first century. Intended to operate in coastal areas of the globe, the ship will be fast, highly maneuverable and geared to supporting mine detection/elimination, anti-submarine warfare and anti-surface warfare, particularly against small surface craft.

The new 127 meter long Independence Class LCS will provide a platform for intelligence gathering, employ surface (anti-ship) and land attacks precision weapons, and operate manned and unmanned aerial and surface vehicles (UAV/USV). To further adapt for specific missions, LCS will incorporate a modular and interchangeable approach, enabling it to be reconfigured to specific missions such as antisubmarine warfare, mine warfare, or surface warfare missions on an as-needed basis. The LCS will be able to swap out mission packages pier-side in a matter of hours, adapting as the tactical situation demands. These ships will also feature advanced networking capability to share tactical information with other Navy aircraft, ships, submarines and joint units.

The Independence Class LCS, built by General Dynamics is designed to offer the largest usable payload volumes per ton of ship displacement of any U.S. Navy surface combatant afloat today -- providing the flexibility to carry out one mission while a separate mission module is in reserve. Its large flight deck sits high above the water, sized to support near-simultaneous operation of two SH-60 helicopters or multiple unmanned vehicles. In addition, the deck is suitable for landing the much-larger H-53 helicopters, should that become a future requirement.

The stable trimaran hull allows for flight operations in high sea conditions. The design is based on a proven Austal (Henderson, Australia) high-speed trimaran hull that is currently operating at sea.

Another unique aspect of the ship's design is the open architecture computing environment developed at General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems team. This open architecture enables different developers to incorporate systems as "plug and play" into the ship's core mission system without the need to use restricted and frequently complex proprietary code. The computing backbone will provide enable integration for both the core systems and the LCS mission modules. This new open architectures allows for future growth and seamlessly integrates domestic and foreign combat components to create a core mission system solution that dramatically lowers acquisition and lifecycle costs.

General Dynamics Bath Iron Works is the prime contractor for the General Dynamics Littoral Combat Ship Team. Partners include Austal USA (Mobile, AL); BAE Systems (Rockville, MD); General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems (Fairfax, Va.); L3 Communications Marine Systems (Leesburg, VA); Maritime Applied Physics Corporation (Baltimore, MD); and Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems (Baltimore, MD).

On December 8, 2006 the US Navy awarded the team a US$208 million contract for the construction of the second Independence class LCS, The first ship is under construction at at Austal USA in Mobile, Alabama.