Fire Scout aboard first LCS

The Navy's first littoral combat ship, USS Freedom, will be commissioned Nov. 8 at a 10 a.m. EST ceremony at Veterans Park, Milwaukee, Wis. Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter will deliver the principal address. A Northrop Grumman Fire Scout helicopter drone is on Freedom and will remain onboard as it transits from Milwaukee to Norfolk, Va. The Fire Scout, built in part in Moss Point, Miss., will contributed to the ship's core missions of mine counter measures, antisubmarine warfare and surface warfare, as well as surveillance, targeting and communication-relay functions. (Source: Navy, Northrop Grumman, 11/05/08)