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| Lockheed Martin Littoral Combat Ship Team Unveils Its High Performance Baseline 3+ Design |
Ship is Optimized for Maneuverability, Agility and Speed
WASHINGTON, April 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Lockheed Martin-led
Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) team today unveiled the latest version of its semi-
planing monohull design at the Navy League's Sea-Air-Space exposition in
Washington, DC. The ship is faster, more agile and more maneuverable than
originally envisioned and maintains its advantages as a low-cost, low-risk
design.
While more than a football field in length, the Lockheed Martin LCS can
operate in extremely shallow water - giving the ship access to thousands of
more ports and littoral waters worldwide than today's Navy combatants. It can
turn 360 degrees in less than eight boat lengths at its rated sprint speed; it
also can accelerate to full speed in less than two minutes. The design
combines high-speed maneuverability with comfortable seakeeping motion that
support launch and recovery, combat operations and optimal human performance
from the crew.
The design also provides a unique approach to loading and handling mission
packages, significantly accelerating ship reconfiguration both pierside and at
sea with a small crew and higher levels of safety. The design incorporates
multiple loading modes and locations, offering great flexibility to its
operators.
Integrated with this innovative mission package handling system is the
offboard vehicle launch and recovery system. It allows a wide variety of
mission vehicles to be launched or recovered simultaneously. The ship's low
profile enhances its stealth qualities, and supports excellent water access
through stern and side doors, making it a superior platform for special
operation forces.
The ship's design flexibility extends to its C4I (Command, Control,
Communications, Computers and Intelligence) capabilities. Through an advanced
open architecture design philosophy, the Lockheed Martin LCS team will quickly
and affordably integrate components of current U.S. Navy programs with mature
international systems, allowing innovative applications to make the ship an
early ForceNet enabler.
"We are extremely proud of this design," said Carol Hulgus, vice president
of programs for Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) Maritime Systems & Sensors. "The
ship is optimized for littoral warfighting operations and displays
extraordinary agility and speed in this environment. It will use this
capability to enhance its offensive and defensive capability, deliver mission
modules to the theater, and provide the Navy with more operational
flexibility. An important discriminator will be our ship's ability in
launching, handling, and recovering unmanned systems quickly and safely. Our
intent is for our LCS to share major components with the Navy's new DD(X)
class of destroyers, realizing the family of ships vision and leveraging
taxpayer resources."
The semi-planing monohull design provides transformational performance
with a high degree of confidence. As previously disclosed, the seaframe is
based on technologies introduced on the 60+ knot, 1,000-ton Destriero, which
holds the trans-Atlantic speed record, and was scaled up to the 3,000-ton
Jupiter class ocean-going vessels. From this real-world experience, the
Lockheed Martin LCS leverages the technical advances and risk-reducing lessons
learned in these designs, while integrating features and design approaches
that are unique to a U.S. Navy combatant.
The Lockheed Martin team design employs a steel and aluminum structure
which is optimized to reduce construction cost, weight, and pitching moment.
Top speeds approach 60 knots depending on the ship's configuration. Its
maximum range, seakeeping, and launch and recovery capabilities all exceed
predicted performance expectations and Navy requirements. Four large,
acoustically optimized waterjets provide flexible, high performance propulsion
from diesel and gas turbine powerplants. This adaptable and reliable power
system will provide excellent performance over the range of speeds required
for LCS missions.
"The seaframe design also allocates nearly half of its volume to
reconfigurable space to maximize operational flexibility," said Hulgus. "The
ship is 'right sized' for the LCS mission and provides flexibility for future
missions by offering 50% greater volume than the Navy's requirement."
This extraordinary ship performance is balanced with the need to deliver
the seaframe within cost and on schedule. The Lockheed Martin LCS team
includes the nation's top two military/commercial shipyards, Marinette Marine
and Bollinger Shipyards. They are responsible for building nearly 200 fast,
reliable and affordable ships of the size and complexity relevant to LCS.
The two-shipyard approach ensures capacity to meet the Navy's LCS shipbuilding
profile. Together with renowned naval architect Gibbs & Cox, architect of
more than 60% of the Navy's combatants, and Lockheed Martin's extensive
military systems integration experience, the Lockheed Martin LCS team provides
the low-cost and low-risk solution for the Navy's LCS program.
"Our team gives the Navy the best possible offering for LCS first ship
success and a solid foundation for future production," said Hulgus. "Our ship
is transformational in performance, low-risk and price. We're confident that
through our partnership with the Navy, the Lockheed Martin LCS team will prove
to be the preeminent combination for a successful LCS program."
The U.S. Navy awarded the Lockheed Martin-led Littoral Combat Ship team a
$10 million contract last July for preliminary design of this critical naval
combatant. A final design selection by the Navy is expected next month.
For additional information on LCS, visit:
http://www.lmlcsteam.com
For additional information on Lockheed Martin Corporation, visit:
http://www.lockheedmartin.com
SOURCE Lockheed Martin
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CONTACT:
Keith Mordoff, Lockheed Martin,
+1-202-863-3412, cell: +1-301-639-4238, Keith.Mordoff@lmco.com
