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LCS 3 to be cancelled?
The entire LCS program should be cancelled, the USN is being ripped off for having to pay between 300 to 400 million dollars per LCS for such a small, weakly armed ship that the LCS is.
It would be better if the Navy decomissioned all 30 FFG-7 class frigates, 9 Ticonderoga class cruisers, 6 Austin class LPD, four Tarawa Class LHA and CVN-65 as well as cancel all LCS orders. All the money saved by these cuts could than be used to build larger numbers of DDX and CGX, Virginia class SSN and San Antonio class LPDs, sooner and faster. Also the Navy could pressure Lockheed Martin to re-design LCS as a Frigate to reduce cost and produce a more balanced design in regards to speed, endurance, complement and armament. (35-45 knots, 10,000-12,000, 100 to 185, 16 cell vertical launch ESSM, RAM, one 76mm gun, CIWS, two mark 46 triple torpedo mounts, two 25mm cannons, four .50 caliber Machine Guns and two helicopters)
Once the new shipbuilding rate has stabalized at 15 ships per year, than the Navy could bring the nine Ticonderoga class
cruisers back into service.
Yearly construction from 2008 to 2018:
1 CVX ordered every three years.
1 LHDX ordered every two years
4 DDX or CGX per year
5 LCS/Frigates per year
1 LPD per year
2 Virginia Class SSN per year
1 Auxilary ship per year
2008-2018, total new construction:
2 CVX
40 DDX/CGX
50 LCS/Frigate
20 Virginia class SSN
5 LHDX
10 San Antonio Class LPD
10 Auxilary Ships (oilers, supply, sealift and special mission ships)
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