Littoral Combat Ships (LCS)

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
Successful live fire test of the LCS Surface-to-Surface Missile Module (SSMM). This will be a 24 pack module using the modified Hell Fire missile for Naval Surface strike use off the LCS, specifically against swarming speed boats.

Pretty impressive video as shown with a ripple fire of three missiles striking three targets.


See:

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Brumby

Major
Successful live fire test of the LCS Surface-to-Surface Missile Module (SSMM). This will be a 24 pack module using the modified Hell Fire missile for Naval Surface strike use off the LCS, specifically against swarming speed boats.

Pretty impressive video as shown with a ripple fire of three missiles striking three targets.


See:

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Jeff,
Do you know what is the likely plan in the future? Is it going to be either or both, meaning Hell Fire and/or NSM/Harpoon?
 

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
Jeff,
Do you know what is the likely plan in the future? Is it going to be either or both, meaning Hell Fire and/or NSM/Harpoon?
I believe the ASuW missile be a standard load for the FF and for the upgraded LCS.

Then the SSMM package would be added and they would have both when deemed necessary.

Or...they may end up keeping some vessels loaded semi-permanently with the SSMM missile as a part of a Surface Warfare module (say those stationed in Singapore). Other vessels would be semi-permanently outfitted with the ASW package so they become overall multi-role vessels capable of performing general escort duties for a CSG or an ARG.
 
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related (but good news :)
RFID Reduces Inventory Time Aboard LCS
Sailors aboard the littoral combat ship USS Independence (LCS 2) successfully demonstrated a passive radio frequency identification (RFID) system’s utility during mine countermeasures mission package (MCM MP) container testing conducted off the coast of Florida, in early July.

The RFID project showed the technology’s ability to dramatically reduce the time Sailors spend conducting parts and equipment inventory in support of ship replenishment.

“RFID reduced the time the Sailors are in the containers in the ship, and that’s a goal – to reduce the warfighter’s workload,” said Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City Division (NSWC PCD) project engineer Bill Israelson. “With the system’s proven accuracy, we can quickly tell what needs to be resupplied so the ship can get what it needs and head back to sea.”
During the container testing Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Mine Countermeasure Detachment Sailors scanned and inventoried 1,300 pieces of MCM MP equipment in only 21 minutes during a rapid replenishment evolution between at-sea periods. Previously, this task would have required three Sailors 72 hours to accomplish.

The inventory occurred once the Sailors returned to port from after conducting at-sea technical evaluations of the littoral combat ship (LCS 2) MCM MP. Once in port, engineers from NSWC PCD, NSWC Port Hueneme Division and contractor support scanned parts and equipment inside the mission package and sent the information to a computer to determine what needed replenishment.

The RFID project is nearing the final test and evaluation stage, necessary to validate the proof of concept. The RFID prototype was initially developed by the Office of Naval Research.
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I believe the ASuW missile be a standard load for the FF and for the upgraded LCS.

Then the SSMM package would be added and they would have both when deemed necessary.

Or...they may end up keeping some vessels loaded semi-permanently with the SSMM missile as a part of a Surface Warfare module (say those stationed in Singapore). Other vessels would be semi-permanently outfitted with the ASW package so they become overall multi-role vessels capable of performing general escort duties for a CSG or an ARG.

a long way to go:
The SSMM is expected to be fully integrated and ready to deploy on LCS missions in late 2017.
as so far:
The shots were launched from the Navy’s research vessel Relentless.
(quotes from
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EDIT
now I found:
The program office began
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against “high-speed maneuvering targets out off the Virginia Capes.” That testing wrapped up in June, and based on the results, the office has to do “some tweaking – it’s really that level, tweaking – to the missile seeker and such.”
in
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Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
a long way to go:
I would not call 2017, less than two years from now, an "long way."

Besides, the SSMM is meant to attack and destroy fast, maneuvering, swarming speed boats principally...and other targets of opportunity if required. it is a part of the Surface Warfare Module.

My point was that they are out there and being developed and working, as shown above. Of course they are not ready to be deployed yet...or they would be.

But they are also not the principle, intrinsic ASuW missile that is going to be added to the FF or the upgraded LCS. Those missile swill be on all vessels so upgrades and a part of their standard armament. It is THAT missile that will address a significant deficiency in the LCS.
 

Bernard

Junior Member
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LCS Anti-Sub Warfare Package Too Heavy; 3 Contracts Issued For Weight Reduction Study
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July 30, 2015 5:13 PM
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The littoral combat ships USS Independence (LCS 2), back, and USS Coronado (LCS 4) are underway in the Pacific Ocean in April 2014. US Navy photo.

The Littoral Combat Ship’s anti-submarine warfare mission package needs to shed some weight before it can deploy on a ship, and the Navy awarded three contracts to help find weight-reduction ideas.

The mission package includes two mature and fielded sonar systems, plus the hardware needed to integrate the systems with the ship. LCS Mission Module Program Manager Capt. Casey Moton said Thursday at a Mine Warfare Association lunch that each of his three mission modules is given 105 metric tons of weight on the LCS, but the ASW as it stands today surpasses that limit.

The mission package includes a Variable-Depth Sonar – the Navy chose the Thales UK Sonar 2087, the same VDS used on the Royal Navy’s Type 23 frigate – as well as the Multi-Function Towed Array used on the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers (DDG-51) and eventually the Zumwalt-class destroyers (DDG-1000). The Navy cannot overhaul either mature system, so it has hired Advanced Acoustic Concepts, L-3 Communications and Raytheon to find more creative ways to reduce weight.

In the early stages of the weight-reduction effort, “we got proposals that ranged from modifying the sensors to reduce weight to things as simple as using composites in the handling system,” Moton said.
“So our initial contract is to three companies, and they will do a transition study for us over the next couple months that will give us a lot more insight.”

Each team will submit a package that brings the mission module to under 105 metric tons, and the Navy will then pick and choose which ideas it likes and use them to build engineering development models. Moton said his office had not decided how many EDMs to build but would make that decision over the next few months.

He said he could not recall how many tons over weight the current ASW package is, but “all three companies proposed schemes that would get us to the weight” and he was confident he could meet the requirement to get onboard a ship.

Also during his speech, Moton said his office was making some minor adjustments to the Lockheed Martin AGM-114L Longbow Hellfire radar-guided missile, which the Navy is adapting for use on the ship. The missile currently launches horizontally from a helicopter, and the Navy is making modifications so it can launch vertically and lock on its target after tipping into a horizontal position post-launch. The new version of the missile will be called the Surface-to-Surface Missile Module and should be fully integrated and ready for deployment by late 2017, according to a Navy statement.

The program office began
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against “high-speed maneuvering targets out off the Virginia Capes.” That testing wrapped up in June, and based on the results, the office has to do “some tweaking – it’s really that level, tweaking – to the missile seeker and such.”

Another round of testing on the research vessel will take place in Fiscal Year 2016.

Moton also said his office is currently conducting a technical evaluation of the surface warfare mission package on USS Coronado (LCS-4). The package has already deployed twice, but both times on Freedom-variant LCSs. Coronado is an Independence-variant ship, with the same interfaces for the mission package but a different physical layout. Moton said the evaluation is “going very well.”
 

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
This type of thing is one of the reasons why the FF, and upgraded LCS simply had to be done.

With the standard capabilities the FF design and the upgraded LCS designs will have, they will be able to preform most of the ASW and ASuW without the modules. The modules will end up enhancing those capabilities for specific missions and needs.

This chart (posted before by Jura on this thread) really lays it out.:

4-5ee8ba1f9b.jpg


The OTOH surface to surface missiles, the towed array, the #D air radar, the MH-60 helos, torpedo defense and countermeasures, etc. will all be organic to all of them when this is accomplished.
 
I would not call 2017, less than two years from now, an "long way."

...

Jeff I sure hope things will work out with this capability, one of the reasons would be the most recent announcement:
The Navy is also on track to station seven LCSs in the Persian Gulf, stationed in Bahrain on a rotational basis by 2020.
(comes from NavyTimes:
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In the meantime I did some web-surfing; the basics (important for me LOL) are described in:

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and

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