Littoral Combat Ships

[Monash]

I still think that "40knots speed" for a post WWII hull that size was a stupid idea; this isn't a coastal missile boat. I bet the compromises, extra design work and extra machinery needed greatly added to the cost, both design and maintenance.

And breakdowns.

[jlvfr]

I still think that "40knots speed" for a post WWII hull that size was a stupid idea; this isn't a coastal missile boat. I bet the compromises, extra design work and extra machinery needed greatly added to the cost, both design and maintenance.

[Monash]

Barely.

[jlvfr]

Guess it's better than scrapping?...

[Monash]

And I bet all of the projects original proponents/enthusiasts inside the Navy who championed the program in the first place have now either left or rigged for silent running. I'd bet it doesn't even appear on any of their resumes now 'program, what program'?.

[Albany Rifles]

Oh, and as I think I may have stated previously (with the benefit of hindsight of course) if the Navy had just concentrated on perfecting just one module from the LCS program - the mining clearing system the Navy would have ended up with class of vessels that would have justified its existence. Something that could both fill a capability gap AND also free up larger hulls from perform low intensity maritime patrol duties.

The LCS was a material solution in search of a functional requirement.

[Albany Rifles]

Not a bad idea...the Perry's and even the non-VLS Tico's were used in SOUTHCOM waters for things like drug interdiction, as I recall.

Yeah...a mission for which it will work at way too much funding. And I wonderf what their operationally ready frate will be.

[Monash]

Oh, and as I think I may have stated previously (with the benefit of hindsight of course) if the Navy had just concentrated on perfecting just one module from the LCS program - the mine clearing system the Navy would have ended up with class of vessels that would have justified its existence. Something that could both fill a capability gap AND also free up larger hulls from having to perform low intensity maritime patrol duties.

[Monash]

Seems like a good set of missions for a fast coastal patrol corvette with a stern boat ramp and a helicopter flight deck and hangar, and with a relatively small crew augmented with an embarked VBSS team, visit, board, search, and seizure. ...No?

That frees up the Arleigh Burke DDGs for blue water missions better suited to the larger and more capable warships.

What is the better alternative, if constrained to realistic practicable choices, from among ships currently in commission?

None, unless the Coast Guard is assigned to some of the missions. My point I guess was that the LCS was supposed to be capable of so much more! And now it's been relegated to missions a basic OPV could perform.

[JRT]

Tells you a lot about the program (and the billions spent on it) that brand new navy hulls almost strait out of the yard are being assigned narco an/or anti piracy patrols, because no-one in the Navy wants them for any other mission.

Seems like a good set of missions for a fast coastal patrol corvette with a stern boat ramp and a helicopter flight deck and hangar, and with a relatively small crew augmented with an embarked VBSS team, visit, board, search, and seizure. ...No?

That frees up the Arleigh Burke DDGs for blue water missions better suited to the larger and more capable warships.

What is the better alternative, if constrained to realistic practicable choices, from among ships currently in commission?

[Monash]

Tells you a lot about the program (and the billions spent on it) that brand new navy hulls almost strait out of the yard are being assigned narco an/or anti piracy patrols, because no-one in the Navy wants them for any other mission.

[TopHatter]

Could the LCS fleet be getting a new mission?
The Navy’s littoral combat ship fleet could see a new permanent mission as part of the fiscal 2023 defense bill that President Biden signed into law Friday.

According to an explanatory statement accompanying the bill, Congress is tasking U.S. Southern Command with studying the feasibility of permanently assigning four to six LCSs to the combatant command.

To date, LCSs have been assigned to SOUTHCOM and its Navy component, U.S. 4th Fleet, under the Defense Department’s Global Force Management process, which allocates ships to different combatant commands worldwide.

But the study will explore whether SOUTHCOM should get its own fleet of LCSs for the first time.

Such ships are regularly deployed to SOUTHCOM to conduct drug interdiction missions in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, while also working with partner nations.

The bill directs SOUTHCOM to provide a report to the congressional defense committees by April 1 on the potential benefits of assigning LCSs to the combatant command.

That report will include a description of the missions LCSs would conduct under SOUTHCOM to further the National Defense Strategy, how accomplishment of those missions would improve with the permanent assignment of LCSs to the command, a “notional concept of operations” for those LCSs, as well as any command and control considerations.

The report will also include a recommendation from SOUTHCOM’s leader, Army Gen. Laura Richardson, regarding whether LCSs should be assigned to the combatant command.

SOUTHCOM’s area of responsibility includes the Latin American landmass south of Mexico, waters adjacent to Central and South America and the Caribbean.

If approved, permanently providing SOUTHCOM with some of its own LCSs could provide a future for the oft-troubled ship class.

The ships were billed as agile, efficient vessels that could take on all sorts of missions in a world where the United States was the lone superpower setting the global table.

But the much-hyped LCS mission modules never materialized, and concerns have emerged about the ships’ survivability in a conventional war with China or Russia.

Navy leaders have highlighted the ships’ utility when it comes to drug busts in SOUTHCOM waters or presence patrols in the western Pacific waters of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.

Congress has also halted Navy plans to retire several of the ships early to save money.

Permanently assigning LCSs to SOUTHCOM could be a reasonable move, “given that the 4th Fleet mission is unlikely to disappear and nobody else is agitating for LCS,” Bradley Martin, a retired surface warfare officer and current director of the Rand National Security Supply Chain Institute, told Navy Times in an email.

“This kind of mission exclusively isn’t what LCS was originally intended to do, but this mission seems like a reasonable way to use what’s available,” Martin said.
________

Not a bad idea...the Perry's and even the non-VLS Tico's were used in SOUTHCOM waters for things like drug interdiction, as I recall.

[jlvfr]

https://news.usni.org/2022/03/29/all...early-disposal
Not soon enough in a way, but way too soon to sideline them with no replacement in the pipeline.

If all they are doing is wasting money & manpower, might as well. It's not like they can do any proper job, without modification/modules, other than drug enforcement...

[thebard]

https://news.usni.org/2022/03/29/all...early-disposal
Not soon enough in a way, but way too soon to sideline them with no replacement in the pipeline.

[jlvfr]

Taiwan fited new SSMs and a 40mm gun, and there are rumours the SM-1 maybe be replaced by a local SAM. Turkey is also carrying out considerable upgrades.