"It’s Time to Sink the Littoral Combat Ship" Topic

"It is more important than ever that the Department of Defense spend taxpayer money wisely as the United States economy struggles and the Pentagon budget comes down from its post-World War II peak. This is particularly true for the Navy, which many strategists see assuming an expanded role in protecting U.S. global economic and security interests. Though the optimal scope of the Navy's mission is up for debate, it's clear that U.S. leaders envision diverse objectives requiring diverse maritime capabilities. What should be equally clear is that there is no need for the littoral combat ship.

On paper, the Littoral Combat Ship, or LCS, is the high tech, multipurpose answer to the Navy's 21st Century needs. It is supposed to be fast, maneuverable and able to operate in shallow water. And it is built to adapt to different tasks through a system of exchangeable weapons and equipment, known as "mission packages." The Navy asserts that an LCS should be able to sail into port and head back to sea in 96 hours, refitted with a completely new payload. This would have allowed the LCS to replace a slew of small and medium warships, 56 at last count. Most importantly, at a projected price tag of $450 USD million for one sea frame and three mission packages, it appeared to offer three ships for the price of one…"
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Amicalement
Armand

Yes, the LCS has been a nightmare. The real killer is that the mission modules have been horribly delayed…

I still can't believe that the USN didn't use the STANFLEX module system.

Me neither, Lion. Why the USN felt the need to reinvent the already existing (and very good and proven) STANFLEX system is beyond me. And why the gawd awful high speed requirement. All that did was throw the LCS design way out of balance with zero displacement left over for those annoying things like a viable weapon system. A good exercise in how NOT to design a ship….

I was actually involved in the initial development of the LCS Mine Warfare module and proof-of-concept testing on HSV-2 SWIFT. My folks performed operational testing of the BPAUV and REMUS UUVs while I was involved in the ongoing certifications of the BLUE/GOLD crews of SWIFT.

Originally, the LCS was intended to have a speed of about 29kts, pretty much what the FFG-7s had, but they were also intended to escort carrier strike groups which necessitated increasing their speed to something that would let them run with the big dogs.

There was also supposed to be something like 60 platforms and 100 modules….

Another aspect in which I was involved was what to do with the module crews when they weren't embarked on a ship. A lot of people don't realize that a module consists of the equipment AND the people who operate it. Unless something has drastically changed, the crew of the ship has no responsibility for operating the embarked modules. When you pull a module, if it is not installed in another platform, the module's equipment and people sit on the beach. There is only so much make-work you can assign a sailor before his job satisfaction starts to plummet.

Ten years ago I told my Admiral we needed to scrap the whole concept and design an expendable 3-5kton FFG with a 5-inch gun and bays from which to operate UUVs. You can see how much sway this Commander had…. ;-)