Navy Sticks With LCS Despite Propulsion Troubles; Lockheed Races To Make Fixes

Two of the Navy’s newest Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ships will sit in port for months while Lockheed Martin develops, tests and installs fixes to a major propulsion issue found on all 16 ships in the class.

The Navy said last week it would not accept delivery of the next two ships on the multi-billion dollar program until the company made the fixes. The decision means the two ships, slated for spring delivery, will fall months behind schedule, another black eye for a program that has yet to prove its utility, despite the delivery of around 20 ships across two classes over the past decade.

The Navy and Lockheed are also working on a plan to determine who pays the lion’s share of the repairs and when and where they’ll be made.