 With the first Latoral Combat Ship, USS Freedom, currently on its maiden deployment in the Asia Pacific, Navy leaders recently testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee about the capabilities the platform brings to the fleet and its importance to our mission. The Latoral Combat Ship provides our Navy with vitally important capabilities and is key to the future of all naval operations. LCS, with its speed, shallow draft and persistence, offers the ability to operate in the near land battle space. It will take us to improve our Navy's global reach further than we have today and has the flexibility to continue to improve and face upcoming threats in the future. The Navy currently has three LCSs, the USS Freedom, USS Fort Worth and USS Independence. From the Defense Media Activity, I'm Petty Officer Alexandra Snyder.