Littoral Combat Ships (LCS)

The US Navy Could Turn the Littoral Combat Ship into a Submarine Killer

The Navy is developing lighter-weight anti-submarine designed to better enable its Littoral Combat Ship to track, locate and destroy enemy submarines – all while recognizing potential rival such as Russia and China continue to rapidly develop new submarine weapons and technologies.

The idea is to harness lighter Variable Depth Sonar and AN/SQR-20 Multi-Function Towed Array systems, along with other anti-submarine technologies, and enable the LCS to receive acoustic signals or “pings” from enemy subs in different maritime conditions and at greater distances.

“We were able to get submarine detections at long ranges,” Capt. Casey Moton, LCS Mission Module Program Manager said in an interview with Scout Warrior.

As part of the effort, the service has been searching for mock-enemy submarines off the coast of California with its USS Freedom boat, or LCS 1. The Navy has awarded three developmental contracts to industry as part of this initiative to engineer more effective and functional systems for the LCS.

“We will go forward with one, two or three of them, do additional design work and then based on that effort we are going to build an engineering development model and also have the weight reduction. The plan right now it we'll start testing at the end of 17 and go into operational testing and IOC (Initial Operating Capability) in 2018,” Moton added.

The Variable Depth Sonar, VDS, and Multi-Function Towed Array, MFTA, scan the undersea domain searching for acoustic signals and frequencies consistent with an enemy submarine; information is then related back up to an on-board LCS command center.

“They listen for a continuos active ping. Then you wait for a period of time and there is another ping. This enables us to track the submarine and we get that energy back on the passive towed array. That system was very effective for long range submarine detection,” Moton added.

(This first appeared in

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

.)
Lighter weight submarine hunting elements are of particular importance to the LCS – as the ship relies upon speed and maneuverability for increased combat performance. Greater agility naturally enable the ship to use its speed of 40-knots to avoid incoming enemy fire or more quickly position itself to attack enemy locations.

The Variable Depth Sonar is engineered to travel beneath a thermal layer in the ocean where the temperature stops changing – the layer can act as an acoustic boundary, Moton described.
“If you have a sonar above that layer, it can be hard to get that sonar into other parts of the water. Variable Depth Sonar allows us to put the submarine shallow above the layer or below the layer - we can put the sonar below the layer,” Moton explained.

The LCS’ anti-submarine mission package also includes an MH-60 sub-hunting helicopter equipped with lightweight torpedoes and sonobuoys to search for acoustic signals from enemy submarines.

The anti-submarine package makes use of a helicopter-like vertical take-off-and-landing drone able to scan the ocean for enemy activity and send back real-time video images through a data-link.
Ultimately, the Navy plans to replace current commercial off-the-shelf VDS and MFTA systems with lighter-weight developmental models, Moton added.

“We are making an improvement in how we operate our sonar. Signals will be received by the towed array, data will be given to a helicopter and then the helicopter will fly out and use its own sonar and sonobuoys to locate a submarine and drop a weapon,” Moton said.

An advanced computer system on board the LCS is designed to integrate incoming sonar and targeting information from underwater assets and helicopters, helping to acquire and relay combat relevant data.

As part of this effort the LCS is connected via a data link to the Navy’s P-8 sub-hunting aircraft.
“We are going to put the LCS out with the package including two sonars and passive towed array working together. The ship will have a helicopter on board with torpedoes and the ship will have a torpedo counter measure system,” Moton said. “The helicopter will either be airborne or it will know where the submarine is based on the LCS sonar detection.”

This anti-submarine developmental effort is progressing concurrently alongside a broader effort to up-gun the LCS with improved weapons and survivability technology. The idea is to better enable a littoral vessel such as the LCS to perform missions in higher-threat environments – while being less vulnerable to attacks from enemy submarines. Longer range, more high-tech sonar on board and LCS could enable the ship to locate, and potentially avoid, the weapons range or envelope of enemy subs.

This ability is increasingly important in light of high-tension areas such as the South China Sea where there are numerous island coastal areas with shallow water. Furthermore, advances in submarine quieting technologies are increasingly making them harder to detect.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Click to expand...

FORBIN said:

ASW module

Click to expand...

FORBIN said:

Coronado with Harpoon missile supports
View attachment 28786

Click to expand...

The Australian parent company of Mobile, Alabama-based shipbuilder Austal USA announced a $115 million write-off Monday due to higher-than-expected costs on its Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program.

The company resumed trading on the ASX Australian Stock Exchange after

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

to review its US shipbuilding operations. After closing at AUS $1.21 June 30, shares reopened July 4 at .95 cents but closed at 1.12.

The write-off was due, the company said in a note to investors, to “a significantly higher level of modifications to the ship design and cost than previously estimated.”

The changes, Austal said, are driven by a “contractual requirement to meet the military shock standard and US Naval Vessel Rules,” a set of building standards imposed by the US Naval Sea Systems Command.

The cost of building and modifying LCSs to meet the shock rating standard and US Naval Vessel Rules is “materially more than what was previously estimated,” the company said.

The design changes were implemented after the Dec. 29, 2010, $4.4 billion, 10-ship fixed-price-incentive block buy contract for even-numbered ships from LCS 6 through LCS 24. All but the first of those ships are now under construction.

Under the terms of the contract, Austal said, the company and the Navy share equally in cost increases from the revised baseline design up to a ceiling price.

Costs beyond that ceiling, however, are borne by the shipbuilder.

“Too much revenue and profit was attributed to work already completed,” Austal said. “Work in progress is overstated because additional costs will be incurred.” Those costs amount to the $115 million write-off.

Austal builds LCS 2 Independence-class ships, which are given even hull numbers in the US Navy’s numbering system. The company took over the role as prime contractor for the class beginning with the Jackson (LCS 6), replacing General Dynamics, which served as prime for the first two ships, also built at Austal’s shipyard.

Delivery of the ships has habitually been late as Austal sought to find ever-improving ways of building the LCSs, thus improving costs. But the delays – which vary by ship and the date a schedule is approved – have not materially improved, and improvements have been offset by the need to go back and modify design features.

The need to modify ships in different stages of construction on an assembly line that is at full-rate production is causing “ongoing schedule and margin pressure on the LCS program,” Austal said.

Nine LCSs are under construction in Mobile, all in various stages of completion, ranging from ships in the water in the final stages of fitting out, to those just beginning fabrication.

“The cost of modifying vessels and components already built has been exacerbated by the concurrent construction schedule,” Austal said. “Modifications to vessels at an advanced construction phase will be more expensive and difficult to implement than pre-launch modifications or modifications to vessels not yet under construction.”

Despite the negative financial news, Austal is upbeat that the survivability changes have been successful.

The Jackson is currently in the midst of Full Scale Shock Trials (FSST) off the Florida coast, a series of three tests where explosives are set off nearby the ship, which is measured and examined for damage. Jackson is the first LCS to undergo the shock trials, which are expected to be completed in mid-July.

A Lockheed-built ship, Milwaukee (LCS 5), will undergo shock trials later this summer.

The US Navy has reserved detailed comment on the Jackson’s first two shock trials, other than to say no unexpected damage was incurred.

But Austal, in its statement, cited “favorable preliminary results,” and noted that “initial findings of the shock trials are that the implementation of the design modifications have been successful, providing greater certainty about the maturity of the revised baseline design and the cost of construction.”

Other sources also indicate the shock tests may be going better than expected, with results positively exceeding predictive modeling.

The US Navy already has announced the shock tests on the two ships will cost around $65 million – costs which include installing numerous sensors and gauges on the ships to measure blast effects, and the cost to remove the sensors and repair damages, including repairs conducted between the test shots and after they’re completed.

Austal announced on July 4 it received an $11.2 million contract for repairs to the Jackson during and after the trials.

Austal chief executive officer David Singleton said the financial impact from the LCS program was clearly disappointing, however, the outlook for the US business remained positive in terms of the generation of future profits and cash flows.

He cited the Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF) program – previously called the Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV) – as performing “pleasingly.” The ships are built in Mobile in a production line parallel to the LCS line.

Austal, Singleton said, has a much clearer understanding of the margins that will be generated from the remaining LCS vessels block buy contract. LCS margins are lower than EPF but will rise in later years as the design modifications are built into the baseline design of new ships without requiring modification of components already built.”

The company, he added, remains in a strong financial position and is continuing to generate positive operating cash flows, which will support ongoing debt reduction and returns to shareholders.”

An Austal USA official was philosophical about the situation.

“It’s worth it to get it right,” the official said. ““We’d prefer to not have any financial loss to this, but if that’s the price we have to pay to get the ship correct, than that’s what we need to do.”

Click to expand...

Jura said:

Mon Dieu! FORBIN
from inside of

"... the ship to use its speed of 40-knots to avoid incoming enemy fire ..."
Mon Dieu!

Click to expand...

The US Navy's New Littoral Combat Ship: The Ultimate Mine Destroyer ?

The Navy is hoping to fully resurrect Mine-Hunting technology for the Littoral Combat Ship such that it can find and eliminate threatening undersea mines with drones, helicopters and underwater sonar, service officials said.

The service plans to engineer a new “truck” or delivery mechanism for its sonar and undersea mine-detection technology as a way to ensure the system is integrated and functional by 2018. The move is part of a broader effort to improve reliability for the system by replacing a vehicle called a Remote Multi-Mission Vehicle, or RMMV. Reliability problems for the RMMV have resulted in delays and pauses to the Mine-Counter-Measures mission package designed for the LCS.

Having an operational mine-search-and-destroy technology aboard the LCS is perceived by Navy developers as essential to the ship’s mission. As a fast, multi-mission littoral vessel designed to both function independently and as part of an aggregated group, the LCS is tasked with providing reconnaissance and possible attack missions in support of larger ships – often hitting shallow water, ports or coastal areas in proximity to enemy forces where larger draft vessels are unable to operate.

The Navy plan is to preserve and build upon the promising testing performance airborne mine-neutralization technology and underwater sonar by providing a new RMMV-like delivery technology, Capt. Casey Moton, LCS Mission Packages Program Manager, told Scout Warrior in an interview.

“Navy made the decision to conduct a review with an independent review team to report out and set us up on an approach. We are changing the truck that carries the sonar,” he said.

The RMMV is a high-endurance, semi-autonomous, low-observable, unmanned, diesel-powered vehicle, operated and maintained from the LCS. It is designed to lower out of the back of an LCS down into the water, bringing a mine-searching AN/AQS-20A sonar with it.
(This first appeared in Scout Warrior

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

.)

The AN/AQS-20A incorporates five separate sonar/sensors in a compact, lightweight, and hydro-dynamically stable towed body. The AN/AQS-20A localizes mine-like objects and provides the operator with a visual image and a contact data list. All mission data are recorded by the LCS for post-mission analysis.

Moton explained that the emerging plan resulted from extensive testing and technical analysis.
“We took the mission package to a technical evaluation last year. It was a very long test designed to test all aspects of the system using LCS 2 off the Pensacola, Fla., area. We went through a series of very realistic test runs. The system performed very well – the airborne laser system and mine neutralization system from helicopters,” Moton said

The AQS sonar performed volume mine-hunting and met all clearance rate requirements, Moton added.

The RMMV is part of a larger integrated system consisting of a Remote Mine-hunting System below the surface and an Airborne Laser Mine Detection System, or ALMDS, above the water to locate the mines alongside an Airborne Mine Neutralization System, or AMNS, designed to destroy the mines once they are found, Navy officials said.

The RMS is comprised of an AQS-20 underwater sonar mine detection system which launches from an autonomous semi-submersible called the Remote Multi-Mission Vehicle, or RMMV. The RMMV, which has both line-of-sight and over-the-horizon capability, Navy officials said.

As many as two RMMVs can operate from the LCS at one time. The RMS works in tandem with the ALMDS, an airborne laser designed to scan the surface and shallow water for mines. Data from both the RMS and ALMDS are assessed at a command center on-board the ship, he said.

Another key part of the mine-identification and neutralization calculus entails the use of a drone-mounted reconnaissance technology able to find mines on water surface, beach and coastal areas.
The Navy has conducted flight tests of the Coastal Battlefield Reconnaissance and Analysis, or COBRA, testing the system's performance on the MQ-8B Fire Scout helicopter-like vertical take-off drone.

The AN/DVS-1 COBRA system allows the MQ-8B to conduct unmanned aerial reconnaissance in littoral areas, detecting minefields and obstacles to prepare for amphibious assaults. Upgrades to the technology was designed to specifically address the beach zone and inland areas.

LCS mine-countermeasures technology also draws upon underwater sonar from a drone-like vessel called Knifefish which uses sensors to engage different parts of the water column

“We need a new truck for our towed sonar and that is what our focus is going to be,” Moton said.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Click to expand...

Austal receives LCS 6 shock trial support contract

Australian-based shipbuilder Austal announced it has been awarded a US$11.2 million contract modification from the U.S. Navy to provide emergent availability planning and full ship shock trials (FSST) support for tests to be conducted on Littoral Combat Ship USS Jackson (LCS 6).

The company made the announcement shortly after announcing it would

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

caused by design modifications on the littoral combat ships.

Under the most recent U.S. Navy contract, Austal USA will plan for and conduct any “in-between shot” repairs required during the FSST event(s), repair any damage sustained during the FSST period and coordinate the removal of FSST testing equipment and instrumentation following completion of the trials.

The FFST comprise a series of tests designed to demonstrate the ship’s ability to withstand the effects of nearby underwater explosions and retain required capability. USS JACKSON has successfully completed the first of three trials and is performing as expected.

Austal delivered USS Jackson (LCS 6) to the U.S. Navy on 11th August 2015 and last week delivered the future USS Montgomery (LCS 8).

https://www.sinodefenceforum.com/littoral-combat-ships-lcs.t3993/page-141#post-403898

Click to expand...

FORBIN said:

Mine-Hunting module now and yes the more laborious but exist something easy with this programm

Click to expand...

... Capt. Casey Moton, LCS Mission Packages Program Manager, told Scout Warrior in an interview.

... “We took the mission package to a technical evaluation last year. It was a very long test designed to test all aspects of the system using LCS 2 off the Pensacola, Fla., area. We went through a series of very realistic test runs. The system performed very well – the airborne laser system and mine neutralization system from helicopters,” Moton said ..."

Click to expand...

DOT&E concluded in a November 2015 memorandum to the USD(AT&L) and the
Navy, based on all testing conducted to date, that an LCS employing the current MCM
mission package would not be operationally effective or operationally suitable if the
Navy called upon it to conduct MCM missions in combat and that a single LCS equipped
with the Increment 1 MCM mission package would provide little or no operational
capability to complete MCM clearance missions to the levels needed by operational
commanders. The following summarize the primary reasons for this conclusion:

- Critical MCM systems are not reliable.

- The ship is not reliable.

- Vulnerabilities of the Remote MultiMission Vehicle (RMMV) to mines and its high
rate of failures do not support sustained operations in potentially mined waters.

- RMMV operational communications ranges are limited.

- Minehunting capabilities are limited in other than benign environmental conditions.

- The fleet is not equipped to maintain the ship or the MCM systems.

- The Airborne Mine Neutralization Systems (AMNS) cannot neutralize most of the
mines in the Navy’s threat scenarios; an Explosive Ordinance Disposal Team or other
means provided by another unit must be used.

• During the MCM mission package Technical Evaluation (TECHEVAL), the Navy
demonstrated that an LSC could detect, classify, identify, and neutralize only a fraction of
the mines in the Navy’s mine clearance scenarios while requiring extraordinary efforts
from shore support, maintenance personnel, and contractors.

• The Navy also conducted both developmental and operational testing of the
Independence variant LCS seaframe with the Increment 2 SUW mission package aboard
LCS 4. Operational testing of the seaframe and Increment 2 SUW mission package is not
yet complete because of pending changes to the ship’s air defense system, Sea Rolling
Airframe Missile (SeaRAM), and other elements of the ship’s combat system and
networks. A second phase of operational testing of the Increment 2 version of the SUW
mission package and Independence variant seaframe is scheduled to occur in 3QFY16.
...

Click to expand...