A United States combat ship designed to operate close to shore arrived here yesterday to begin a deployment in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. USS Coronado's arrival marks the first time an Independence-variant littoral combat ship has been deployed to South-east Asia. It will exercise and conduct operations with partners in the region. It has about 100 crew and is equipped with two rigid hull inflatable boats. It also carries two 30mm machine guns, two MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned aerial vehicles and an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter. The ship left San Diego on June 22 and participated in the multinational Rim of the Pacific exercise around the Hawaiian islands. It then underwent maintenance in Hawaii before setting sail for Singapore.