Within the program Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) of the US Navy, the consortium comprising Fincantieri, through its subsidiary Fincantieri Marinette Marine (FMM), and Lockheed Martin Corporation, won the contract for the construction of a further LCS of the "Freedom" variant, the whose value is included in the cost cap of 584 million dollars per ship set by the US Congress.
LCS 27 will be the fourteenth ship in the LCS variant “Freedom” program, a major shipbuilding for the United States Navy. Fincantieri and Lockheed Martin are fully engaged in production and to date have delivered five ships to the US Navy, of which the latest, "Little Rock" (LCS 9), on 26 September (v.comunicato). There are currently seven units already in different stages of construction at the Marinette site, the only shipyard in the Midwest, and another two to follow that will complete the program.
The LCS program was awarded in 2010 to FMM, as part of the partnership between Fincantieri and Lockheed Martin, world leader in the defense sector. The "Freedom" variant constitutes a new generation of medium-sized multi-role ships, designed for coastal surveillance and defense activities, for operations in deep water and for different types of missions in the field of defense against "asymmetric" threats such as mines. , silent diesel submarines and fast surface ships. 2 LCS from the program have been successfully deployed in the Western Pacific, with the third and fourth delivered in 2015 and 2016, respectively.
