Lockheed Martin Corporation  

Lockheed Martin received a $15 million conceptual design contract from the U.S. Navy on Feb. 16 to mature its Frigate design. Built to U.S. Navy shipbuilding standards, Lockheed Martin’s Frigate offering was designed from the keel up to be adaptable, scalable and responsive to the fleet’s needs. It remains the best platform to grow the fleet quickly and affordably

Lockheed Martin received a $15 million conceptual design contract from the U.S. Navy on Feb. 16 to mature its Frigate design. Built to U.S. Navy shipbuilding standards, Lockheed Martin’s Frigate offering was designed from the keel up to be adaptable, scalable and responsive to the fleet’s needs. It remains the best platform to grow the fleet quickly and affordably

WASHINGTON --- The U.S. Navy awarded Lockheed Martin a $15 million contract to mature its Freedom-variant Frigate design as a part of the Navy's FFG(X) competition.

Lockheed Martin received a $15 million conceptual design contract from the U.S. Navy on Feb. 16 to mature its Frigate design. Built to U.S. Navy shipbuilding standards, Lockheed Martin's Frigate offering was designed from the keel up to be adaptable, scalable and responsive to the fleet's needs. It remains the best platform to grow the fleet quickly and affordably. 

Lockheed Martin submitted its Freedom-variant Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) parent design in response to the U.S. Navy's FFG(X) conceptual design solicitation with Fincantieri Marinette Marine as its shipbuilder and Gibbs & Cox as its naval architect. 

"We are proud of our 15-year partnership with the U.S. Navy on the Freedom-variant Littoral Combat Ship and look forward to extending it to FFG(X)," said Joe DePietro, Lockheed Martin vice president of small combatants and ship systems. "Built to U.S. Navy shipbuilding standards, our frigate design offers an affordable, low-risk answer to meeting the Navy's goals of a larger and more capable fleet." 

The Lockheed Martin and Fincantieri Marinette Marine team is currently in full-rate production of the Freedom-variant of the LCS, and has delivered five ships to the U.S. Navy to date. There are eight ships in various stages of construction at Fincantieri Marinette Marine, with one more in long-lead production. 

Demonstrating the Freedom-variant LCS design flexibility and ability to integrate increased capabilities, the Royal Saudi Naval Forces selected an LCS derivative, the Multi-Mission Surface Combatant, to fulfill its small combatant requirement. This is the first sale in over three decades of a U.S.-built surface combatant to a foreign partner nation. 


Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 100,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. 

Fincantieri Marinette Marine (FMM) is located on the Menominee River flowage into Green Bay. The largest shipyard in the Midwest, FMM has delivered more than 1,300 vessels to the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, and commercial customers, including the technologically advanced Littoral Combat Ship Freedom variant for the U.S. Navy. In 2008, FMM became part of Fincantieri, one of the world's largest shipbuilding groups. 

Gibbs & Cox, the nation's leading independent maritime solutions firm specializing in naval architecture, marine engineering and design, is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. The company, founded in 1929, has provided designs for nearly 80 percent of the current U.S. Navy surface combatant fleet; approaching 7,000 naval and commercial ships have been built to Gibbs & Cox designs.