Navy Has Fixed the Gears of Nearly Half of Its Freedom-Class Littoral Combat Ships – By Caitlin M Kenney (Defense One) / May 11, 2023
Eight ships have yet to get the combining-gear fix, including three the Navy wants to retire in two years
The Navy has fixed the combining gear in nearly half of its Freedom-class littoral combat ships—including one it aims to decommission in two years.
“We are partway through the class of ships in installing that fix and restoring the ship to its full capability,” Rear Adm. Casey Moton, the program executive officer for Unmanned and Small Combatants, said during a House Oversight and Accountability subcommittee hearing Thursday.
The problem is “a design issue in the gear that should never have been there,” Moton said.
The Navy and shipbuilder Lockheed Martin are evenly paying for the repairs, though the cost “continues to be negotiated between the Navy and Lockheed Martin,” Navy spokeswoman Lt. Meagan Morrison said in an email.
