US Navy’s improved littoral combat warships in Asia to be armed with radar-evading precision missiles

The US Navy’s once-beleaguered class of littoral combat ships (LCS) are back on an improved standing after major reforms, and military analysts say such warships – now to be armed with radar-evading precision missiles – could give Washington’s forward deployed forces in Asia a much-needed boost, amid rapid technological gains by China’s navy.

The LCS programme has come under the spotlight as the USS Gabrielle Giffords, the ninth warship in the class, makes its way to Singapore from San Diego for a rotational deployment in the Western Pacific, alongside sister ship USS Montgomery.

This is the first time two of the warships are being deployed simultaneously out of Singapore – home to a major refuelling and logistics facility – since former president Barack Obama’s administration in 2012 announced it would station up to four of the warships there, as part of a wider “pivot to Asia” strategy.

Read the full story and more in South China Morning Post.