Littoral Combat Ship

The Littoral Combat Ship is a small, fast surface combatant built in two variants — the Freedom class by Lockheed Martin and the Independence class by Austal USA — intended to use modular mission packages for mine warfare, surface warfare, and anti-submarine warfare.

The program has been criticized for reliability issues, early retirements, and unsettled mission-package fielding. Several hulls have been retired less than a decade after commissioning, and the Navy has begun replacing the class with the Constellation-class frigate.

Despite setbacks, Independence-variant LCS have been deployed to SOUTHCOM and INDOPACOM, where their shallow draft and high speed remain valuable.

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