The US Navy has awarded a contract to Northrop Grumman to provide additional littoral combat ship (LCS) mission modules.
Under the $25.2m contract, Northrop will deliver three mission module packages, which includes two for surface warfare missions and one for mine countermeasures for the US Navy.
Northrop Grumman aerospace systems information operations and electronic attack director, Doug Shaffer, said that the company will provide fully integrated mission modules.
"With this procurement, we will work with our customers to capture synergies across the mission module production base, enhance production and supplier base stability, and reduce cost to the navy," Shaffer said.
The littoral combat ships are designed to conduct three primary missions including mine warfare, antisubmarine warfare and surface warfare while the mission packages enable integration of manned and unmanned systems, which are operated across the air, surface and subsurface domains.
Navy littoral combat ship mission module programme manager, captain John Ailes, said: "I continue to be impressed with the Northrop Grumman-led teams’ performance as they deliver high-quality mission modules on cost and schedule."
Featuring a specific set of subsystems such as data processing equipment, vehicles and sensors, and others, the mission package supports mine countermeasures, littoral antisubmarine warfare or littoral surface warfare operations.
The mission modules will allow efficient modular mission package integration, mission package operations and debarkation that is central to the LCS modular mission package concept.
Final integration work will be carried out at the company’s mission package support facility located at their naval base in Ventura county, Port Hueneme, California, US.
To date, two surface warfare mission modules and one mine countermeasures mission module have been delivered by the company for the LCS.
Currently, the second and third mine countermeasures mission module as well as the third surface warfare mission modules are undergoing construction by Northrop.
Image: US Navy’s littoral combat ship, USS Freedom (LCS 1) performing mission at sea. Photo: courtesy of US Navy.
