“The U.S. Navy plans to make six Littoral Combat Ships (LCSs), two Independence class vessels and four Freedom class vessels, available for sale through its Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program in the next two years. The oldest and youngest of the ships intended to be sold have been in service for just under eight years and just under three years, respectively…
The original decision to divest the two Independence class ships was primarily because of changes in the plan for a set of mission packages intended to be used on both subclasses of LCSs. Both the Independence class and Freedom class LCSs were originally designed to fulfill a multitude of roles within littoral zones through the use of swappable anti-submarine warfare, surface warfare, and mine countermeasure packages. The original intention was for all LCSs to be highly flexible vessels, with the ability to switch quickly from one mission set to another.
The Navy has since abandoned this plan entirely and the packages will be installed permanently – future Constellation class frigates are expected to provide the desired additional anti-submarine warfare capacity.”