Littoral Combat Ships (LCS)

dtulsa

Junior Member
The Navy will likely upgrade them with what parts they can so they will be navy ships what duties? LCS Independence class ships I think would be tasked to Amphibious groups. Although limited the Coronado demonstrated the ability to do such, and there large helicopter flight decks would be useful for such.

The the navy planned on basing 10 freedom class ships in Naval Station Mayport perfect placement for joint Coast Guard operations
I think we are both in the same page remember the hydrofoils were all stationed there until they were retired I believe
 

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
Independence class LCS has a top speed of 44 Knots, almost as fast as the old Pegasus class Hydrofoils 48 knots. With these upgrades I imaging a weight penalty which may explain the fantail. Removing weight to keep a high speed.

Austal Frigate specifications:
Length: 419 ft
Beam: 104 ft
Draft: 15 ft
Full load displacement: Approx. 3,500 Tons
Speed: More than 32 knots
Range: More than 4,300 nm @ 12 kts
Berthing: 130
Mission bay size: 7,000 square ft
Watercraft operations: 2x 7 meters RHIBS. Launch and recovery up to sea state 3
Flight operations: 1x H-60, up to sea state 5
Hangar:1x H-60 and 1x MQ-8C
Sensors: 3D search radar, 2x navigation radars, EO/IR fire control optics, variable depth sonar, multi-function towed array, electronic surveillance
Processing systems: COMBATSS 21 CMS, AN/SQQ-89 undersea warfare system, integrated bridge control system, automated machinery and damage control systems
Armament: SeaRAM, Mk110 57mm gun, 6x .50 cal guns, NULKA, 16x OTH missiles, 2x 25/30mm cannons, Helllfire AGM-114 missiles, torpedo countermeasures, 2x Mk41 launchers
Propulsion: 2x GE LM2500 gas turbines, 2x MTU 20V8000 diesel engines, 4x Wartsila steerabe, reversing waterjets.
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Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
The US Navy should have made the Freedom and Independence "frigates" from the get go.

The OHP Frigaes had, for their time, decent ASuW, deent AAW area coverage, and very good ASW capabilities. All thee with no "modules".

A US Navy FFG should be able to do all three today too...and each of those classes could be retrofitted to do so (The Freedom and Independence) and they should be, post haste.

For the last 8-10 years we have him-hawwed around with this design...but given who was President for most of that time, and the convoluted thinking that admin had on most military matters...it is not surprising.
 
inside:
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“At the point in time we were going through
[blah blah blah]
impact on costs,” Stackley said.

what is he still doing in the Pentagon?! OK I know the technical answer, which is "acting SecNav" as Trump still can't find his SecNav, but I mean he was responsible for Research, Development and Acquisition when billions had been spent on "marvels" like two LCS subclasses, Zumwalts while there were insufficient funds on proper armament, testing etc. OK these were "phenomenal successes" of previous administration, but now this individual should go!
 

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
pathetic "solution" (for the reasons given inside
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plus, I add, because of nonsensical placement of AShMs so close to the waterline)
really Jura I think you are getting more and more Angsty.
But let's debunk.
One LCS maker, Australia-based
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, is offering an
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equipped with the standard heavy-duty, multi-purpose missile launcher used on cruisers and destroyers, the
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— something
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said would be too bulky and costly. Rival LCS builder Lockheed told me
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to its very different frigate design, but it hasn’t done so because the Navy hasn’t asked. With the official requirements for the frigate still in draft, the Navy has to figure out the trade-off: Is the extra firepower and flexibility VLS provides worth the cost, the weight, and the need to take something else off to make room?
the more and more I look at the Austal the more and more I think they did make a trade off. They cut back the flight deck length eliminated the mission module bay creating the fantail and reducing the structural weight to allow for the VLS in this new offering which matches the story posted above.
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for its lack of combat power. While the Lockheed and Austal variants are very different, each has a single 57 millimeter bow gun and two 30 mm autocannon on the sides. All LCS are now being upgraded with the
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— famously used by Predator drones and Apache helicopters — but that’s originally an anti-tank weapon and only has a five-mile range.
The Hellfire was added as a defencive measure to counter the threat of small craft like the boat that almost sank the USS Cole. The NAvy was the one who devised the small package version The builders both offered more. The report I posted today asks for more. It's the Navy who is feuding.
the 57mm can and 30mm guns are good systems not mentioned is that they also have smaller 12.7mm mounts to.
The Navy’s now looking at larger
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anti-ship missiles with a hundred-plus-mile range. By contrast, Russian corvettes of just
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— compared to
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for LCS — carry Kalibr cruise missiles that can strike targets in Syria from 900 miles away.
Again the Navy's choice They tested the Naval strike missile from MK 141 launcher on the Coronado. And again The navy said no to VLS with TLAMS that limits it They seem to have wanted to push antiship missiles.
Why does the LCS have so much less firepower than some smaller foreign counterparts? Because it’s designed to do different things. Instead of being a heavily armed but relatively expendable missile boat, LCS is a kind of mini-aircraft carrier meant to carry helicopters, drones, and unmanned watercraft. Its hull is built with a lot of open space for mix-and-match mission packages for various roles: defeating
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,
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, or
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. However, heavy firepower to fight enemy fleets just wasn’t a priority back in the 1990s when the LCS was conceived. That has changed.
that was the mission is still a mission need. just because of Russia and China does not mean that those jobs are gone.
But that same basic hull can be and is being tailored to better suit the main mission sets. or as the article says
Now that rival fleets are on the rise, the Navy is willing to trade off some of LCS’s multi-mission flex space for more combat power.
exactly and the vendors are willing to do it but the customer has to make the choice.
The Navy’s vision for what it’s now
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will have built-in weapons and sensors for the anti-ship and anti-submarine warfare missions, but no capacity for minesweeping. It will have the Over The Horizon missile, but it won’t have VLS, which means it can’t carry the Navy’s standard long-range weapons for attacking land targets, hostile ships, or incoming enemy aircraft and missiles. (VLS cells can accommodate
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, while the OTH candidates are
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). The lack of VLS on the Navy’s frigate concept severely limits both its offensive firepower and its defensive capability to escort other ships under threat of air or missile attack.
like I pointed out the Navy's choice it seems to be feuding on this.
“They did evaluate a Vertical Launch System,” then-Chief of Naval Operations
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when he rolled out the proposal, but it was “kind of heavy, kind of big, a major change [adding] cost, time.”
well duh, and No contracting for an established or "Internationalized" design will not change that either.

TBC
 

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
Lockheed Martin’s frigate proposal colors carefully within the lines the Navy has laid out. The company told me they could add up to 16 VLS cells to the current LCS hull (or more launchers with a longer hull), and they have offered VLS-equipped variants to foreign customers. But their proposal for the Navy frigate competition doesn’t have a Vertical Launch System. Instead, it retains the current LCS’s 57 mm bow gun and 30 mm autocannons while adding Hellfires and up to 16 Over The Horizon missiles, as well as enhanced sensors, decoys, and electronic warfare equipment. It accommodates a larger crew to operate all this equipment. On the downside, it gives up capacity to launch unmanned watercraft, but it can still carry either two manned
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helicopters or one MH-60 plus three
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drones.
Right package the Navy seems to have wanted. But is limited and you are complaining about.
Austal’s proposal, by contrast, goes beyond what the Navy asked for. It has the same guns (1×76 mm, 2×30 mm), the same Hellfires, the same 16 Over-The-Horizon missiles, but then it adds 16 Vertical Launch System cells. So what does Austal give up to fit VLS? Primarily flight deck and hangar space: Their frigate can only carry one Sea Hawk helicopter and one Fire Scout. That’s a significant trade-off, since the aircraft play a big role in everything from spotting subs to shooting fast attack boats, clearing mines, and even
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incoming missiles away from the ship.
If it trades off the Fire scout it should be able to take 2 Sea Hawks.
And 16 VLS are what you want you gave basically said so to.
It’s worth noting that Austal’s LCS design, the broad
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, starts out with a much bigger flight deck than Lockheed’s narrower
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. Both variants meet the Navy’s current requirements for LCS, but they aren’t necessarily equally easy to upgrade to the frigate.

“For the Independence-class LCS, the trimaran design is probably better able to accommodate adding weight in the form of missile launchers higher in the ship,” said
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, a retired Navy officer, who’s argued for
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in the past. “Compared to the trimaran design, however, it may be easier to increase the Freedom-class’ weight capacity by adding a hull insert to lengthen the ship.”
ever feel like you are running in circles?
If you don’t make the ship bigger, however, Clark worries that adding both Vertical Launch Systems and Over The Horizon missiles would require taking too many other important systems off. “Based on DOT&E’s testing results and the Navy’s own statements…I believe these additions will consume most of the mission package weight allowance for the ship,” Clark wrote me. “That would probably prevent it from also carrying the ASW (Anti-Submarine Warfare) mission package.” A frigate that can’t hunt subs would be badly handicapped against either the
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or the
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.

(UPDATE: Austal assured me their design carries the full complement of ASW equipment and crew, as well as VLS, and that the broad trimaran hull has plenty of room for all the upgrades).
And the weight reduction from cutting back the light deck and mission bay. So far Jura your killer article is as soft as a pillow.
What’s more, Clark said, adding VLS doesn’t solve all LCS’s problems. “We should also keep in mind that adding the VLS magazine will not address the other limitations of the LCS being used in a frigate role, endurance and manpower,” he said.
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, and each item of equipment you add — including VLS — requires more crew to operate even as it takes away room you could use for more crew.
The crew issue is more an issue for the Freedom class. Freedom has a crew of 50 but they are supposed to task on up to 95 for special missions... but the number varies.
Independence has a crew of 130 Because of the Larger size of the Independence class you still have room.
So what’s the solution? Clark and his colleagues at the
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were commissioned by Congress to come up with
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to the Navy’s official plans. Their “
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,” lavishly praised by Senate Armed Services chairman (and
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)
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, includes a proposal to build an all-new frigate design in the 4,000 to 5,000-ton range, significantly bigger than LCS. That would allow plenty of tonnage for VLS and other weapons.

The Navy, however, argues an all-new design would
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. Right now, the
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is the bird in the hand. The question is how sharp they can make its claws.
Figures he was pushing a narrative and not looking at the option, It would cost more and take more time and in this case for the Independence class offering it's close to the 4000 ton mark.
Compare it to other western frigates of similar weight it's matching the armaments and finally Jura really
I add, because of nonsensical placement of AShMs so close to the waterline)
there is no issue, The Navy tested Firing Rockets from the Sea for a time and you know what? No problem. In fact the Harpoon's the launcher fires have a submarine launched version. The issue is back blast but there are navy ships with their launchers blast hitting the deck.
 
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