Littoral combat ship
Encyclopedia
A Littoral Combat Ship is a type of relatively small surface vessel intended for operations in the littoral zone (close to shore). It is "envisioned to be a networked, agile, stealthy surface combatant capable of defeating anti-access and asymmetric
threats in the littorals." Two ship classes are the first examples of the LCS in the U.S. Navy
: the and the . LCS designs are slightly smaller than the US Navy's guided missile frigates
, and have been likened to corvette
s of other navies. However, the LCS designs add the capabilities of a small assault transport
with a flight deck
and hangar
large enough to base two SH-60 Seahawk
helicopters, the capability to recover and launch small boats from a stern ramp, and enough cargo volume and payload to deliver a small assault force with armoured fighting vehicle
s to a roll-on/roll-off port facility. The standard armament for the LCS is Mk 110 57 mm guns. It will also be able to launch autonomous air
, surface
, and underwater
vehicles. Although the LCS designs offer less air defense and surface-to-surface capabilities than comparable destroyer
s, the LCS concept emphasizes speed, flexible mission module space and a shallow draft
.
The first Littoral Combat Ship, the , was commissioned on November 8, 2008 in Veteran's Park, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The second ship and first of the trimaran design, the , was commissioned on January 16, 2010, in Mobile, Alabama.
The concept behind the littoral combat ship, as described by former Secretary of the Navy
Gordon R. England
, is to "create a small, fast, maneuverable and relatively inexpensive member of the DD(X)
family of ships." The ship is easy to reconfigure for different roles, including anti-submarine warfare
, mine countermeasures, anti-surface warfare
, intelligence
, surveillance
and reconnaissance
, homeland defense, maritime intercept, special operations
, and logistics
. Due to its modular design, the LCS will be able to replace slower, more specialized ships such as minesweepers
and larger assault ships
.
Most of the functions of the mission modules will be performed by carried vehicles such as the helicopters or unmanned vehicles such as the Spartan Scout
, AN/WLD-1 RMS Remote Minehunting System
and MQ-8B Fire Scout. By performing functions such as sonar
sweeps for mines
or submarine
s or torpedo
launches against hostile submarines at some distance from the ship's hull, the crew is placed at less risk. This is part of the Navy's goal to "unman the front lines."
Thales
has sold one Captas 4 antisubmarine sonar to the US Navy to be towed behind the LCS itself, with a potential order of 25 units.
Also by placing sensors on remote vehicles the LCS will be able to exploit concepts such as bistatic sonar
without actually being in two places at the same time.
A report by the Pentagon's director of Operational Test and Evaluation found that neither design was expected to "be survivable in a hostile combat environment" and that neither ship could withstand the Navy's full ship shock trials.
The combat abilities of the LCS were said to be "very modest" even before the cancellation of the XM501 Non-Line-of-Sight Launch System
.
Under Secretary of the Navy Robert O. Work
has said that Marines will deploy from the Littoral combat ship.
The Independence-class is said to have better helicopter facilities and more internal space while the Freedom-class is said to be better able to launch and recover boats in high seas. Adm. Gary Roughead has said that a mix of both types would be "operationally advantageous".
Some of the LCS will be forward based in Singapore
.
, Mine hunter, Surface warfare
, and Special warfare missions.
In January 2011, the US Navy recommended that Raytheon
's Griffin missile system
be selected as the replacement for the NLOS-LS missile. This would lower the missile range of the LCS from 25 miles to 3.5 miles. The packages are to be deployed in sets of three, with 15 per set for a total of 45 missiles. Initial deployment is for 2015, with a longer ranged version to enter service around 2017. The longer range missile will be chosen in a competition for a "beyond the horizon" system.
launched its first littoral combat ship, Sea Fighter
, in 2003. Sea Fighter used a SWATH
type hull and was designated as Fast Sea Frame or FSF-1. The ship was put into service in 2005 and serves as an experimental test bed ship using mission modules. Given that the FFG-7, Osprey, and the Avenger class mine countermeasures ship
, are all reaching end of life, the U.S. Navy released a requirement for the LCS class ships. In 2004, Lockheed Martin
, General Dynamics
and Raytheon
submitted designs to the Navy of their proposed littoral combat ships. It was decided to produce two vessels each (Flight 0) of the Lockheed Martin design (LCS-1 and LCS-3) and of the General Dynamics design (LCS-2 and LCS-4). After these are brought into service, and experience has been gathered on the usability and efficiency of the designs, the future design for the class will be chosen (Flight I). This may be a decision to use one or the other design in whole, or a combined form made by selecting features from each, or a mixed fleet of both designs. The Navy currently plans to build 55 of these ships.
On 9 May 2005, Secretary of the Navy Gordon R. England
announced that the first LCS would be named . Her keel was laid down on 2 June 2005 at Marinette Marine
, Marinette, Wisconsin
. The contract to build the ship was managed by Lockheed's Maritime Systems and Sensors (MS2) division, directed by Fred Moosally
. On 23 September 2006, LCS-1 was christened and launched at the Marinette Marine shipyard. On 19 January 2006, the keel for the General Dynamics trimaran
, , was laid at the Austal USA
shipyards in Mobile
, Alabama
. LCS-2 was launched 30 April 2008.
used the LCS procuring process as an example of botched contracting procedures that drove up the costs unnecessarily.
In March 2009, Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter
announced that LCS-3 would be named the after Fort Worth, Texas
and the fourth ship would be named the after Coronado, California, signalling the restart of LCS program. The LCS-3 Fort Worth contract was renewed in March 2009, and the LCS-4 Coronado was renewed in April 2009. The Navy also announced its revised LCS procurement plan in April 2009 that a total of three ships would be awarded in FY 2010 budget. Senior Navy officials also hinted that the Navy may not down-select to one design for further orders, pointed out complementary features of the two designs.
The Navy pressed forward with its Littoral Combat Ship acquisition process, despite calls from former Navy Secretary John Lehman
to adapt a fixed-price contracts. Pressure also mounted in the Congress for the Navy to control the cost of LCS: in June 2009, during a hearing of the House Armed Services Seapower Subcommittee, Subcommittee Chairman Gene Taylor, D-Miss, said that other contractors would jump at the chance to build LCS as the subcommittee added language that would require the Navy to open bidding on the project if either lead contractor walked away from the $460 million fixed price contracts that would be offered. In response, the Naval Sea Systems Command
conducted a study on whether a reduction of the top speed requirement from 40 knots to 30 could help keep the ships under the price cap.
The Congress also asked the Navy to study improvement programs on existing ships in place of the LCS program. But in June 2009 Vice Adm. Barry McCullough testified in a Senate Armed Services Committee
meeting that the Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate
s and minesweepers were too worn out to continue in service to cover the gap if the LCS development process suffered further delays. Retired Navy Adm. James Lyons called for a $220 million common design with the USCG National Security Cutter
program to save costs and meet "limited warfare requirements. "
In support of the LCS program, Northrop Grumman
Aerospace Systems, the contractor of UAV that would be carried on Littoral Combat Ships, released a study that showed seven LCS can more efficiently perform anti-piracy patrols in the Western Indian Ocean than a fleet of 20 conventional ships for a quarter of the cost.
To help reduce cost of each ships, Navy Acquisition Chief Sean Stackley
and Vice Admiral Barry McCullough in September 2009 indicate that only one of the contractors would be offered a fixed price contract in 2010 for up to ten ships, followed by an offer to build five additional ships of the same design as the first contract to the secondary builder. The Congress agreed with the Navy on this plan.
FY2010 budget documents revealed that the total costs of the two lead ships had risen to $637 million for Freedom and $704 million for Independence.
On 16 January 2010, the Independence was commissioned in Mobile, Alabama.
On 4 March 2010, Austal USA split from Bath Iron Works and announced that it would bid on future LCS contacts by itself, so that Austal could for example win the 2010 contract and Bath could win the follow on contract in 2012.
On 23 August 2010, The US Navy announced a delay in awarding the contract for 10 ships until sometime near the end of the year. A meeting of the Defense Acquisition Board scheduled for 29 October 2010 has been delayed and The Navy has indicated that no decision on the contract can be made until this meeting is held.
The GAO found that deploying the first two ships will delay the overall program because these two ships were not available for testing and development so changes may have to be made in the second pair of ships during their construction instead of being planned for before construction started. The US Navy responded that "Early deployment brought LCS operational issues to the forefront much sooner than under the original schedule, some of which would not have been learnt until two years on."
said that the change was made because both bids were under the Congressional price cap. Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said that unlike the possibility of splitting orders for projects like KC-X
or the General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136
, the Pentagon had already paid the development cost for both designs so there were no further development costs required to build both designs and have them compete for future orders. However every Republican in the United States House of Representatives voted against this plan. Senator John McCain also moved to block it in the Senate.
The Government Accountability Office identified some problems with the designs other than shipbuilding. These included, in GAO's views, extremely long crew training time, unrealistic maintenance plans, and the lack of comprehensive risk assessment.
On 13 December 2010, both production teams extended their contract offers until December 30 in order to give more time for the Navy to push through Congressional headwinds. The Navy would be forced to award the contract to only one team if it failed to secure Congressional approval. The Navy budgeted $490 Million for each ship while the Congressional Budget Office projected a cost of $591 million for each ship. Navy acquisition chief Sean Stackley
testified to a Senate panel that the actual price range was $440 to $460 million.
One day before the contract offers were set to expire, both Lockheed Martin and Austal USA received contracts from the Navy to build additional ten ships of their designs. Two ships of each design would be built on every year between 2011 and 2015. LCS-5 of the Lockheed Martin design had the contractual price of $437 Million. Austal USA's contractual price for LCS-6 was $432 Million. Department of Navy Undersecretary Sean Stackley noted in a conversation with reporters on 29 December 2010, that the LCS program was now well within the Congressional cost cap of $480 million per ship. The average per-ship target price for Lockheed ships is $362 million, Stackley said, with a goal of $352 million for each Austal USA ships. Government-furnished equipment (GFE), such as weapons, add about $25 million to each ship. Another $20 million is figured in for change orders, and a "management reserve" is also included. All told, Stackley said, the average cost to buy an LCS should be between $430 million and $440 million.
In the fiscal year 2011, the unit cost $1.8 billion and the program cost $3.7 billion
and Israel
have both expressed an interest in a modified version of the Freedom Class vessel, the LCS-I, but Defense News has reported that Israel has dropped out of this project in favor of a new frigate
design to be built in Israel. However Israel has been unable to talk Germany into subsidizing any more naval vessels so may be forced to return to more reliable American funding.
The Republic of China Navy
has also shown interest in procuring US littoral combat ships, to replace aging Knox class frigate
s. The Royal Malaysian Navy
intends to purchase much smaller ships that they call littoral combat ships.
Asymmetric warfare
Asymmetric warfare is war between belligerents whose relative military power differs significantly, or whose strategy or tactics differ significantly....
threats in the littorals." Two ship classes are the first examples of the LCS in the U.S. Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
: the and the . LCS designs are slightly smaller than the US Navy's guided missile frigates
Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate
The Oliver Hazard Perry class is a class of frigates named after the American Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, the hero of the naval Battle of Lake Erie...
, and have been likened to corvette
Corvette
A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft or fast attack craft , although many recent designs resemble frigates in size and role...
s of other navies. However, the LCS designs add the capabilities of a small assault transport
Amphibious assault ship
An amphibious assault ship is a type of amphibious warfare ship employed to land and support ground forces on enemy territory by an amphibious assault...
with a flight deck
Flight deck
The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is the surface from which its aircraft take off and land, essentially a miniature airfield at sea. On smaller naval ships which do not have aviation as a primary mission, the landing area for helicopters and other VTOL aircraft is also referred to as the...
and hangar
Hangar
A hangar is a closed structure to hold aircraft or spacecraft in protective storage. Most hangars are built of metal, but other materials such as wood and concrete are also sometimes used...
large enough to base two SH-60 Seahawk
SH-60 Seahawk
The Sikorsky SH-60/MH-60 Seahawk is a twin turboshaft engine, multi-mission United States Navy helicopter based on the United States Army UH-60 Black Hawk and a member of the Sikorsky S-70 family. The most significant airframe modification is a hinged tail to reduce its footprint aboard ships.The...
helicopters, the capability to recover and launch small boats from a stern ramp, and enough cargo volume and payload to deliver a small assault force with armoured fighting vehicle
Armoured fighting vehicle
An armoured fighting vehicle is a combat vehicle, protected by strong armour and armed with weapons. AFVs can be wheeled or tracked....
s to a roll-on/roll-off port facility. The standard armament for the LCS is Mk 110 57 mm guns. It will also be able to launch autonomous air
Unmanned aerial vehicle
An unmanned aerial vehicle , also known as a unmanned aircraft system , remotely piloted aircraft or unmanned aircraft, is a machine which functions either by the remote control of a navigator or pilot or autonomously, that is, as a self-directing entity...
, surface
Unmanned surface vehicle
The term unmanned surface vehicle or autonomous surface vehicle refers to any vehicle that operates on the surface of the water without a crew. USVs have been tested since World War II but have been largely overshadowed. This is due to the fact the USVs, such as the OWL Mk II surveillance drone,...
, and underwater
Autonomous Underwater Vehicle
An autonomous underwater vehicle is a robot which travels underwater without requiring input from an operator. AUVs constitute part of a larger group of undersea systems known as unmanned underwater vehicles, a classification that includes non-autonomous remotely operated underwater vehicles...
vehicles. Although the LCS designs offer less air defense and surface-to-surface capabilities than comparable destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
s, the LCS concept emphasizes speed, flexible mission module space and a shallow draft
Draft (hull)
The draft of a ship's hull is the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull , with the thickness of the hull included; in the case of not being included the draft outline would be obtained...
.
The first Littoral Combat Ship, the , was commissioned on November 8, 2008 in Veteran's Park, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The second ship and first of the trimaran design, the , was commissioned on January 16, 2010, in Mobile, Alabama.
Concept
United States Secretary of the Navy
The Secretary of the Navy of the United States of America is the head of the Department of the Navy, a component organization of the Department of Defense...
Gordon R. England
Gordon R. England
Gordon Richard England is an American businessman who served as the United States Deputy Secretary of Defense and twice as United States Secretary of the Navy in the administration of U.S. President George W...
, is to "create a small, fast, maneuverable and relatively inexpensive member of the DD(X)
Zumwalt class destroyer
The Zumwalt class destroyer is a planned class of United States Navy destroyers, designed as multi-mission ships with a focus on land attack. The class is a scaled-back project that emerged after funding cuts to the larger DD-21 vessel program. The program was previously known as the "DD"...
family of ships." The ship is easy to reconfigure for different roles, including anti-submarine warfare
Anti-submarine warfare
Anti-submarine warfare is a branch of naval warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, or other submarines to find, track and deter, damage or destroy enemy submarines....
, mine countermeasures, anti-surface warfare
Anti-Surface Warfare
Anti-surface warfare is a type of naval warfare directed against surface combatants. More generally, it is any weapons, sensors, or operations intended to attack or limit the effectiveness of an adversary's surface ships....
, intelligence
Military intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that exploits a number of information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to commanders in support of their decisions....
, surveillance
Surveillance
Surveillance is the monitoring of the behavior, activities, or other changing information, usually of people. It is sometimes done in a surreptitious manner...
and reconnaissance
Reconnaissance
Reconnaissance is the military term for exploring beyond the area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about enemy forces or features of the environment....
, homeland defense, maritime intercept, special operations
Special operations
Special operations are military operations that are considered "special" .Special operations are typically performed independently or in conjunction with conventional military operations. The primary goal is to achieve a political or military objective where a conventional force requirement does...
, and logistics
Military logistics
Military logistics is the discipline of planning and carrying out the movement and maintenance of military forces. In its most comprehensive sense, it is those aspects or military operations that deal with:...
. Due to its modular design, the LCS will be able to replace slower, more specialized ships such as minesweepers
Minesweeper (ship)
A minesweeper is a small naval warship designed to counter the threat posed by naval mines. Minesweepers generally detect then neutralize mines in advance of other naval operations.-History:...
and larger assault ships
Amphibious assault ship
An amphibious assault ship is a type of amphibious warfare ship employed to land and support ground forces on enemy territory by an amphibious assault...
.
Most of the functions of the mission modules will be performed by carried vehicles such as the helicopters or unmanned vehicles such as the Spartan Scout
Spartan Scout
The Spartan Scout is a crewless surface watercraft, also known as an unmanned surface vehicle developed by the United States in 2001, and first demonstrated in late 2003. The craft, a rigid hull inflatable boat, weighs two tons, and is seven meters in length...
, AN/WLD-1 RMS Remote Minehunting System
AN/WLD-1 RMS Remote Minehunting System
The Lockheed Martin AN/WLD-1 RMS Remote Minehunting System is a remotely controlled minesweeping system to be operated by surface warships, such as the littoral combat ship.-External links:* * * * *...
and MQ-8B Fire Scout. By performing functions such as sonar
Sonar
Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels...
sweeps for mines
Naval mine
A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...
or submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
s or torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
launches against hostile submarines at some distance from the ship's hull, the crew is placed at less risk. This is part of the Navy's goal to "unman the front lines."
Thales
Thales Group
The Thales Group is a French electronics company delivering information systems and services for the aerospace, defense, transportation and security markets...
has sold one Captas 4 antisubmarine sonar to the US Navy to be towed behind the LCS itself, with a potential order of 25 units.
Also by placing sensors on remote vehicles the LCS will be able to exploit concepts such as bistatic sonar
Bistatic sonar
Most sonar systems are monostatic, in that the transmitter and receiver are in the same place. Bistatic sonar describes when the transmitter and receiver are separated by a distance large enough to be comparable to the distance to the target....
without actually being in two places at the same time.
A report by the Pentagon's director of Operational Test and Evaluation found that neither design was expected to "be survivable in a hostile combat environment" and that neither ship could withstand the Navy's full ship shock trials.
The combat abilities of the LCS were said to be "very modest" even before the cancellation of the XM501 Non-Line-of-Sight Launch System
XM501 Non-Line-of-Sight Launch System
The Non-Line of Sight Launch System was a self-contained missile launcher system that was under development by NETFIRES LLC, a partnership between Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. Each Container Launch Unit holds 15 missiles, and a self-locating networked communications system...
.
Under Secretary of the Navy Robert O. Work
Robert O. Work
Robert Orton Work is the current United States Under Secretary of the Navy.-Biography:Work attended the University of Illinois and earned a B.S. in Biology. Work would later earn an M.S. in Systems Management from the University of Southern California; an M.S...
has said that Marines will deploy from the Littoral combat ship.
The Independence-class is said to have better helicopter facilities and more internal space while the Freedom-class is said to be better able to launch and recover boats in high seas. Adm. Gary Roughead has said that a mix of both types would be "operationally advantageous".
Some of the LCS will be forward based in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
.
Mission Modules
The LCS is reconfigured for various roles by changing mission modules. These include weapon systems, sensors, carried craft and mission crews. Projected modules include ASWAnti-submarine warfare
Anti-submarine warfare is a branch of naval warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, or other submarines to find, track and deter, damage or destroy enemy submarines....
, Mine hunter, Surface warfare
Surface warfare
Modern naval warfare is divided into three operational areas: surface warfare, air warfare and submarine warfare. Each area comprises specialized platforms and strategies used to exploit tactical advantages unique and inherent to that area....
, and Special warfare missions.
Surface Warfare
The Surface Warfare Mission Module includes two 30mm Gun Mission Modules (GMM) manufactured by Teledyne Brown Engineering, Inc.In January 2011, the US Navy recommended that Raytheon
Raytheon
Raytheon Company is a major American defense contractor and industrial corporation with core manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. It was previously involved in corporate and special-mission aircraft until early 2007...
's Griffin missile system
Griffin (missile)
The Griffin is a short-range air-to-surface missile developed by Raytheon for UAVs. It is tube-launched, with a 5.5 inches diameter, weighs 45 pounds, and has a semi-active laser seeker. It has a 13-lb warhead, smaller than the Hellfire typically used by armed UAVs, which has the effect of reducing...
be selected as the replacement for the NLOS-LS missile. This would lower the missile range of the LCS from 25 miles to 3.5 miles. The packages are to be deployed in sets of three, with 15 per set for a total of 45 missiles. Initial deployment is for 2015, with a longer ranged version to enter service around 2017. The longer range missile will be chosen in a competition for a "beyond the horizon" system.
Anti-Submarine Module
The anti-submarine module will have its focus changed from stationary systems to en-stride systems (while the ship is moving) that are useful in the open ocean as well as in coastal areas.Mine Countermeasures Module
The MCM Module also continues to have ongoing issues with Rear Adm. Frank Pandolfe, reporting dissatisfaction with the performance and looking to replace it with a modified Airborne Laser Mine Detection System (ALMDS).Proposal
The United States NavyUnited States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
launched its first littoral combat ship, Sea Fighter
Sea Fighter
Sea Fighter is an experimental littoral combat ship under development by the United States Navy. Its hull is of a small-waterplane-area twin-hull design, provides exceptional stability, even on rough seas. The ship can operate in both blue and littoral waters...
, in 2003. Sea Fighter used a SWATH
Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull
A Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull, better known by the acronym SWATH, is a twin-hull ship design that minimizes hull cross section area at the sea's surface. Minimizing the ship's volume near the surface area of the sea, where wave energy is located, maximizes a vessel's stability, even in high...
type hull and was designated as Fast Sea Frame or FSF-1. The ship was put into service in 2005 and serves as an experimental test bed ship using mission modules. Given that the FFG-7, Osprey, and the Avenger class mine countermeasures ship
Avenger class mine countermeasures ship
Avenger-class mine countermeasures ships are a class of 14 ships constructed by the United States Navy 1987–1994. The ships are designed to clear mines from vital waterways. The ships have the hull designator MCM.-Background:In the early 1980s, the U.S...
, are all reaching end of life, the U.S. Navy released a requirement for the LCS class ships. In 2004, Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....
, General Dynamics
General Dynamics
General Dynamics Corporation is a U.S. defense conglomerate formed by mergers and divestitures, and as of 2008 it is the fifth largest defense contractor in the world. Its headquarters are in West Falls Church , unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, in the Falls Church area.The company has...
and Raytheon
Raytheon
Raytheon Company is a major American defense contractor and industrial corporation with core manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. It was previously involved in corporate and special-mission aircraft until early 2007...
submitted designs to the Navy of their proposed littoral combat ships. It was decided to produce two vessels each (Flight 0) of the Lockheed Martin design (LCS-1 and LCS-3) and of the General Dynamics design (LCS-2 and LCS-4). After these are brought into service, and experience has been gathered on the usability and efficiency of the designs, the future design for the class will be chosen (Flight I). This may be a decision to use one or the other design in whole, or a combined form made by selecting features from each, or a mixed fleet of both designs. The Navy currently plans to build 55 of these ships.
On 9 May 2005, Secretary of the Navy Gordon R. England
Gordon R. England
Gordon Richard England is an American businessman who served as the United States Deputy Secretary of Defense and twice as United States Secretary of the Navy in the administration of U.S. President George W...
announced that the first LCS would be named . Her keel was laid down on 2 June 2005 at Marinette Marine
Marinette Marine
Marinette Marine Corporation is a shipbuilding firm in Marinette, Wisconsin. MMC was a subsidiary of Manitowoc Marine Group, also in Wisconsin, but was sold to Fincantieri Marine Group in 2009...
, Marinette, Wisconsin
Marinette, Wisconsin
Marinette is a city in and the county seat of Marinette County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 11,749 at the 2000 census.Marinette is the principal city of the Marinette, WI–MI Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Marinette County, Wisconsin and Menominee...
. The contract to build the ship was managed by Lockheed's Maritime Systems and Sensors (MS2) division, directed by Fred Moosally
Fred Moosally
Fred P. Moosally is a former Captain in the United States Navy. During his naval career, Moosally served in many different assignments, including commander of a destroyer and the battleship USS Iowa...
. On 23 September 2006, LCS-1 was christened and launched at the Marinette Marine shipyard. On 19 January 2006, the keel for the General Dynamics trimaran
Trimaran
A trimaran is a multihulled boat consisting of a main hull and two smaller outrigger hulls , attached to the main hull with lateral struts...
, , was laid at the Austal USA
Austal USA
Austal USA is the American branch of operations for Australia-based shipbuilder Austal. The facility is based in Mobile, Alabama and employs more than 1000 workers with expansions currently underway.-History:...
shipyards in Mobile
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...
, Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
. LCS-2 was launched 30 April 2008.
Budget Overruns and Deployments
The US Navy canceled contracts to build LCS-3 of Lockheed Martin and LCS-4 of General Dynamics and Austal USA in April and November 2007, respectively, citing failure to control cost overruns of both designs. Subsequently, the Navy announced new bidding process for the next three ships, with winner building two ships and the loser building one. In the September 26, 2008 US Presidential debate, Senator John McCainJohn McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
used the LCS procuring process as an example of botched contracting procedures that drove up the costs unnecessarily.
In March 2009, Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter
Donald C. Winter
Donald Charles Winter is an American businessman who served as United States Secretary of the Navy. A former top executive of Northrop Grumman, he was nominated in 2005 by President George W. Bush, confirmed by the United States Senate, and took the oath of office on January 3, 2006...
announced that LCS-3 would be named the after Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
and the fourth ship would be named the after Coronado, California, signalling the restart of LCS program. The LCS-3 Fort Worth contract was renewed in March 2009, and the LCS-4 Coronado was renewed in April 2009. The Navy also announced its revised LCS procurement plan in April 2009 that a total of three ships would be awarded in FY 2010 budget. Senior Navy officials also hinted that the Navy may not down-select to one design for further orders, pointed out complementary features of the two designs.
The Navy pressed forward with its Littoral Combat Ship acquisition process, despite calls from former Navy Secretary John Lehman
John Lehman
John F. Lehman, Jr. is an American investment banker and writer who served as Secretary of the Navy in the Reagan administration and in 2003–04 was a member of the 9/11 Commission....
to adapt a fixed-price contracts. Pressure also mounted in the Congress for the Navy to control the cost of LCS: in June 2009, during a hearing of the House Armed Services Seapower Subcommittee, Subcommittee Chairman Gene Taylor, D-Miss, said that other contractors would jump at the chance to build LCS as the subcommittee added language that would require the Navy to open bidding on the project if either lead contractor walked away from the $460 million fixed price contracts that would be offered. In response, the Naval Sea Systems Command
Naval Sea Systems Command
The Naval Sea Systems Command is the largest of the U.S. Navy's five "systems commands," or materiel organizations...
conducted a study on whether a reduction of the top speed requirement from 40 knots to 30 could help keep the ships under the price cap.
The Congress also asked the Navy to study improvement programs on existing ships in place of the LCS program. But in June 2009 Vice Adm. Barry McCullough testified in a Senate Armed Services Committee
United States Senate Committee on Armed Services
The Committee on Armed Services is a committee of the United States Senate empowered with legislative oversight of the nation's military, including the Department of Defense, military research and development, nuclear energy , benefits for members of the military, the Selective Service System and...
meeting that the Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate
Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate
The Oliver Hazard Perry class is a class of frigates named after the American Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, the hero of the naval Battle of Lake Erie...
s and minesweepers were too worn out to continue in service to cover the gap if the LCS development process suffered further delays. Retired Navy Adm. James Lyons called for a $220 million common design with the USCG National Security Cutter
National Security Cutter
The United States Coast Guard National Security Cutter , also known as the Legend class and Maritime Security Cutter, Large, is one design among several new cutter designs developed as part of the Integrated Deepwater System Program....
program to save costs and meet "limited warfare requirements. "
In support of the LCS program, Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American global aerospace and defense technology company formed by the 1994 purchase of Grumman by Northrop. The company was the fourth-largest defense contractor in the world as of 2010, and the largest builder of naval vessels. Northrop Grumman employs over...
Aerospace Systems, the contractor of UAV that would be carried on Littoral Combat Ships, released a study that showed seven LCS can more efficiently perform anti-piracy patrols in the Western Indian Ocean than a fleet of 20 conventional ships for a quarter of the cost.
To help reduce cost of each ships, Navy Acquisition Chief Sean Stackley
Sean Stackley
Sean J. Stackley became Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition in July 2008. As the Navy’s acquisition executive, Mr...
and Vice Admiral Barry McCullough in September 2009 indicate that only one of the contractors would be offered a fixed price contract in 2010 for up to ten ships, followed by an offer to build five additional ships of the same design as the first contract to the secondary builder. The Congress agreed with the Navy on this plan.
FY2010 budget documents revealed that the total costs of the two lead ships had risen to $637 million for Freedom and $704 million for Independence.
On 16 January 2010, the Independence was commissioned in Mobile, Alabama.
On 4 March 2010, Austal USA split from Bath Iron Works and announced that it would bid on future LCS contacts by itself, so that Austal could for example win the 2010 contract and Bath could win the follow on contract in 2012.
On 23 August 2010, The US Navy announced a delay in awarding the contract for 10 ships until sometime near the end of the year. A meeting of the Defense Acquisition Board scheduled for 29 October 2010 has been delayed and The Navy has indicated that no decision on the contract can be made until this meeting is held.
The GAO found that deploying the first two ships will delay the overall program because these two ships were not available for testing and development so changes may have to be made in the second pair of ships during their construction instead of being planned for before construction started. The US Navy responded that "Early deployment brought LCS operational issues to the forefront much sooner than under the original schedule, some of which would not have been learnt until two years on."
Building Both Designs
Instead of declaring a winner out of the two competing designs, the US Navy in November 2010 asked the Congress to allow for the order of ten of each designs. US Senator Carl LevinCarl Levin
Carl Milton Levin is a Jewish-American United States Senator from Michigan, serving since 1979. He is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services. He is a member of the Democratic Party....
said that the change was made because both bids were under the Congressional price cap. Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said that unlike the possibility of splitting orders for projects like KC-X
KC-X
KC-X is the United States Air Force program to procure its next-generation aerial refueling tanker aircraft to replace some of the older Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers. The contest was for a production contract for 179 new tankers with estimated value of US$35 billion...
or the General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136
General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136
The General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 is an advanced turbofan engine being developed by General Electric and Rolls-Royce plc for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II.-Development:...
, the Pentagon had already paid the development cost for both designs so there were no further development costs required to build both designs and have them compete for future orders. However every Republican in the United States House of Representatives voted against this plan. Senator John McCain also moved to block it in the Senate.
The Government Accountability Office identified some problems with the designs other than shipbuilding. These included, in GAO's views, extremely long crew training time, unrealistic maintenance plans, and the lack of comprehensive risk assessment.
On 13 December 2010, both production teams extended their contract offers until December 30 in order to give more time for the Navy to push through Congressional headwinds. The Navy would be forced to award the contract to only one team if it failed to secure Congressional approval. The Navy budgeted $490 Million for each ship while the Congressional Budget Office projected a cost of $591 million for each ship. Navy acquisition chief Sean Stackley
Sean Stackley
Sean J. Stackley became Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition in July 2008. As the Navy’s acquisition executive, Mr...
testified to a Senate panel that the actual price range was $440 to $460 million.
One day before the contract offers were set to expire, both Lockheed Martin and Austal USA received contracts from the Navy to build additional ten ships of their designs. Two ships of each design would be built on every year between 2011 and 2015. LCS-5 of the Lockheed Martin design had the contractual price of $437 Million. Austal USA's contractual price for LCS-6 was $432 Million. Department of Navy Undersecretary Sean Stackley noted in a conversation with reporters on 29 December 2010, that the LCS program was now well within the Congressional cost cap of $480 million per ship. The average per-ship target price for Lockheed ships is $362 million, Stackley said, with a goal of $352 million for each Austal USA ships. Government-furnished equipment (GFE), such as weapons, add about $25 million to each ship. Another $20 million is figured in for change orders, and a "management reserve" is also included. All told, Stackley said, the average cost to buy an LCS should be between $430 million and $440 million.
In the fiscal year 2011, the unit cost $1.8 billion and the program cost $3.7 billion
Foreign Sales
Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
have both expressed an interest in a modified version of the Freedom Class vessel, the LCS-I, but Defense News has reported that Israel has dropped out of this project in favor of a new frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
design to be built in Israel. However Israel has been unable to talk Germany into subsidizing any more naval vessels so may be forced to return to more reliable American funding.
The Republic of China Navy
Republic of China Navy
The Republic of China Navy is the maritime branch of the Armed forces of the Republic of China . The ROC Navy's primary mission is to defend ROC territories and the sea lanes that surround Taiwan against a blockade, attack, or possible invasion by forces of the People's Republic of China...
has also shown interest in procuring US littoral combat ships, to replace aging Knox class frigate
Knox class frigate
Knox class frigates were United States Navy warships, originally laid down as ocean escorts , but were all redesignated as frigates on 30 June 1975 in the USN 1975 ship reclassification and their hull designation changed from DE to FF.A sub-class of the Knox class was built, commonly referred to as...
s. The Royal Malaysian Navy
Royal Malaysian Navy
The Royal Malaysian Navy is the naval arm of Malaysian Armed Forces. All commissioned ships of the RMN have the prefix KD , which means Royal Ship.-Straits Settlement Naval Volunteer Reserve:...
intends to purchase much smaller ships that they call littoral combat ships.
See also
- Sea Fighter (FSF-1)Sea FighterSea Fighter is an experimental littoral combat ship under development by the United States Navy. Its hull is of a small-waterplane-area twin-hull design, provides exceptional stability, even on rough seas. The ship can operate in both blue and littoral waters...
- La Fayette class frigateLa Fayette class frigateThe La Fayette class units are light multi-mission frigates built by DCN and operated by French Marine Nationale...
- Visby class corvetteVisby class corvetteThe Visby is the latest class of corvette to be adopted by the Royal Swedish Navy after the Göteborg and the Stockholm class corvettes. The ship's design heavily emphasizes "low visibility" or stealth technology. The first ship in the class is named after Visby, the main city on the island of Gotland...
- Project 28 Anti-submarine warfare CorvetteProject 28 Anti-submarine warfare CorvetteKamorta class Corvettes are the Indian Navy's next-generation anti submarine warfare platform, built under Project 28. They are being built at Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers , Kolkata. The first corvette is expected to be delivered to the Indian Navy in 2012...
- Braunschweig class corvetteBraunschweig class corvetteThe K130 Braunschweig class is Germany's newest class of ocean-going corvettes. They supplement the Gepard class fast attack craft that are currently used.-Technical details:...
- Skjold classSkjold class patrol boatThe Skjold class patrol boats is a new class of superfast, large stealth missile craft, formerly known as MTBs . From 2009, the Royal Norwegian Navy officially label them as coastal corvettes because their seaworthiness is seen as comparable to corvettes. They are built at the Umoe Mandal yard...
- MEKO CSL: The Combat Ship for the LittoralsMEKOThe MEKO family of warships was developed by the German company Blohm + Voss.MEKO is a registered trademark. The portmanteau stands for "Mehrzweck-Kombination" . It is a concept in modern naval shipbuilding based on modularity of armament, electronics and other equipment, aiming at ease of...
or "Littoral Combatant Ship" - Milgem class corvetteMilgemThe MİLGEM project, from the Turkish words Milli Gemi , is a Turkish national warship program, the purpose of which is to build a modern littoral combat warship with indigenous anti-submarine warfare and high-seas patrol capabilities, extensively using the principles of stealth technology in its...
- Absalon class command and support ship
- Holland class offshore patrol vessels
- USCG Maritime Security Cutter, Large
External links
- GAO criticizes cost overruns First two LCS ships to exceed budget of $472 million by more than 100 percent.
- Press Release from Lockheed MartinLockheed MartinLockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....
Corporation on the launch of LCS-1 Freedom. - Defense Industry Daily LCS info, pictures, timeline, links to pages about LCS robot vehicles.
- http://peoships.crane.navy.mil/lcs/
- http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/lcs.htm
- LCS Project Details on Naval-technology.com
- LCS specifications globalsecurity.org
- http://www.austal.com/
- Press Release issued from the Department of Defense relating to the Stop Work order.
- General Dynamic LCS cutaway view painting
- Lockheed Day In The Life video
- Lesson on How Not to Build a Navy Ship
- Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Pictures Pictures at DefenceTalk
- Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) News News at DefenceTalk
