Israel Considering Lockheed’s Littoral Combat Ship Design

Lockheed LCS cutaway(click to view full) The U.S. Navy has awarded Lockheed Martin a foreign military sales contract valued at nearly $5.2 million to conduct a nine-month Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) feasibility study for the Israeli Navy. Under the contract Lockheed Martin will examine possible modifications to its modified Fincantieri racing hull design, to see if it can meet specific Israeli naval requirements. This means examining its competing LCS design for hull, mechanical and electrical system compatibility with the Israeli Navy’s combat systems and other requirements – especially important since the Israelis use a lot of indigenous weapons and electronics. This is why Vice President of Lockheed Martin Israel Operations Joshua Shani says that “participation by the Israeli defense industry will be the cornerstone of this program’s success.” Saar 5 Eilat Class(click to view full) The successful completion of this study could lead to follow-on contracts to design and build one or two ships for the Israeli Navy, as a follow-on or replacement for its capable and heavily-armed Saar-4.5 Hetz/ Nirit Class missile boats and/or Saar-5 Lahav/ Eilat Class corvettes. It will be interesting to see if the Israelis lean toward the core “LCS modular switch-outs” approach, or elect to […]