LCS Freedom Set for RIMPAC Exercise

By RICHARD R. BURGESS, Managing Editor

The Navy’s first Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), USS Freedom, is scheduled to participate in the 2010 Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise in July near the Hawaiian islands, according to Capt. Mike Good, program manager for the LCS mission packages, told reports May 3 at the Navy League’s 2010 Sea-Air-Space Exposition.

RIMPAC is a large, multinational naval exercise conducted bi-annually with allied and partner navies of nations bordering the Pacific Ocean.

Freedom, built by a team led by Lockheed Martin, arrived last month at its home port of San Diego after its maiden deployment, during which it participated in drug-interdiction operations in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific. A surface warfare mission package, including the Mk50 gun system, and the a prototype of maritime security module consisting of two 11-meter rigid-hull inflatable boats (RHIBs) and visit, board, search and seizure teams.

In related developments:
The LCS’s mine warfare mission package will be put through an end-to-end test onboard the catamaran experimental ship Sea Fighter, staged from Panama City, Fla.

Demonstration of the anti-submarine warfare mission package’s low-frequency bi-static acoustic array module is scheduled for this winter in the Western Pacific.

The Mission Package Support Facility in Port Hueneme, Calif., activated in October, provided support to Freedom during its deployment with a repair team staged to Colon, Panama. The team repaired and returned to service the two RHIBs within 96 hours.

Good said one of the RHIBs had been damaged when it was shouldered by a drug-running boat.

The Army’s decision to cease development of the Non-Line of Sight missile launcher — scheduled for inclusion in the LCS surface warfare mission package — has put the future of the weapon system in doubt. Cancellation is a decision that rests with Ashton Carter, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics. Good said the Navy has started a trade study “to look at mature and maturing hardware that is available today.”