Littoral Combat Ships (LCS)

"We are pleased to receive the future USS Jackson into the LCS class," Buller said. "Jackson will operate out of Mayport, Florida, while conducting full ship shock trials, prior to joining her sister littoral combat ships in their homeport of San Diego in late 2016."

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strehl said:

... 30mm shells really need more oomph. If they really want to keep that caliber (for weight and deck mounting limitations) they should switch to a Gatling so they can get a lot more lead out there.

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strehl said:

The 57mm has enough bang to make an impact but those 30mm shells really need more oomph. If they really want to keep that caliber (for weight and deck mounting limitations) they should switch to a Gatling so they can get a lot more lead out there.

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Jeff Head said:

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IMHO, for the types of boats shown, or even larger speed boats, the 30mm gun is going to be, in addition to the 57mm gun, plenty adequate for those types of targets.

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Littoral Combat Ship USS Coronado (LCS 4) successfully tracked and neutralized both single and multiple fast inshore attack craft during live-fire testing off the coast of California July 18-22. It also demonstrated the ability to counter incoming anti-ship missiles when it successfully executed the first even at-sea demonstration of the SeaRAM Point-Defense Weapon System on August 14.

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Naval Today said:

The 21st annual Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) exercise between the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and the Malaysian Armed Forces began Aug. 17 with opening ceremonies in Sandakan, Malaysia.

CARAT Malaysia 2015 consists of five days of shore-based and at-sea training events, designed to address shared maritime security concerns, build relationships, and enhance interoperability among participating forces.

CARAT is a series of bilateral naval exercises between the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and the armed forces of Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Timor-Leste.

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Miragedriver said:

This article sounds a little sensational. It is from the National Interest, but I'll post it anyhow.

The U.S. Navy appears to have a new low-cost plan to counter Iran’s fleet of speedboats.

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In that vein, the U.S. Navy

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the first test of the Longbow Hellfire missile system from a Littoral Combat Ship. The tests, which were announced at the end of last month, took place in mid-June, according to a Navy press release.

“During the mid-June tests off the coast of Virginia, the modified Longbow Hellfire missiles successfully destroyed a series of maneuvering small boat targets. The system "hit" seven of eight targets engaged, with the lone miss attributed to a target issue not related to the missile's capability,” the press release said.

Each LCS will be able to hold 24 Longbow Hellfire missiles, according to Motley Fool. One advantage the Longbow Hellfire missiles hold over other missiles considered, most notably the Raytheon’s Griffin IIB missile, was that its “fire and forget” feature allowed numerous missiles to be fired simultaneously.

The SSMM will be fully integrated and deployed on the LCS starting in 2017.

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Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) intends to award a sole-source contract to Lockheed Martin for a combat management system for the future frigates, after the Navy determined the company is the only one capable of delivering the system without slowing down the rest of the acquisition program.

The current Littoral Combat Ship fleet is split evenly between Lockheed Martin’s Freedom-variant hull design with the Combat Management System Component Based Total Ship System – 21st Century (COMBATSS-21) system and Austal’s Independence-variant with a Northrop Grumman Integrated Combat Management System. When the LCS program shifts to the frigate program, though, the Navy has said it wants to take the opportunity to whittle down to a single, common combat management system (CMS).

Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training (LM MST) will provide that common system, according to a notification on FedBizOpps (FBO).

“Following announcement of the future modified LCS, the FF, the Navy conducted a review of potential common combat management systems to procure for the FF,” NAVSEA spokesman Chris Johnson told USNI News.
“The Navy determined that COMBATTS-21 was the only common combat management system which would not result in unacceptable delays to FF design and acquisition timelines.”

According to FBO, the contract would cover work from Fiscal Years 2016 to 2021, including “the development, software and hardware integration, procurement, and delivery of two COMBATSS-21 CMS for LCS Class Frigate ships.”

The contract would also buy the hardware and develop the software so that the common CMS could be backfitted onto the Freedom- and Independence-variant LCSs, according to the notice.

The contract will also include options for logistics products to support the CMS, hardware for two more FF ship sets and engineering support.

“LM MST is the only source that can meet the Navy’s Frigate shipbuilding program schedules. This notice is not a request for competitive proposals,” the FBO notice reiterates.

The Navy could not yet comment on why Lockheed Martin was deemed the sole capable source for the common CMS contract.

In April, Program Executive Officer for LCS

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the Navy may keep the two hull designs in the frigate program but the FFs would have common combat systems, common over-the-horizon radars and over-the-horizon missiles, and possibly common consoles. He said at the time that he had about 18 months to pick which specific systems he would include in the final frigate design.

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