Joanna Crews
The U.S. Navy has concluded acceptance trials of its seventh Freedom-variant littoral combat ship, the future USS Wichita (LCS 13), built by a Lockheed Martin-led industry team.
Joe DePietro, vice president of small combatants and ship systems at Lockheed, said in a statement released Friday the completion of trials marked a key step forward for the delivery, commissioning and deployment of the vessel.
The service branch performed maneuverability assessments, a full-power run and demonstrations of LCS 13’s small boat launch and recovery, air detect-to-engage combat and aviation support systems during the four-day test that took place in Lake Michigan.
Fincantieri Marinette Marine currently produces and tests eight LCS platforms that include the future USS Wichita, which Lockheed plans to deliver by summer.
The future USS Billings (LCS 15) is presently under long-lead production and is slated for sea trials within the year.
Jan Allman, CEO and president of Fincantieri Marinette Marine, said the LCS team collaborated to design, build and test the Freedom-variant ships, which are geared for focused-mission support for anti-submarine and surface warfare and mine countermeasure operations.
