Ping.
THis is a good decision. I think they should stop at 24 myself and then move on to a true multi-role frigate design.
However that still leaves us with 24 or 32 of these. They need to be made effective and I think they can...but they still cost too much.
The LCS has to fight in the littorals. In the littorals it may face numerous threats:
1) Small, perhaps swarming, fast boats mounted with machine guns and RPGs.
2) Corvettes and light frigates mounted with anti-shipping missiles.
3) Conventional diesel/electric or nuclear submarines.
4) Mines.
5) Aircraft.
The LCS is supposed to be designed to fight in this environment.
It does need a light, small missile, like the Longbow, and other weapons like the 30mm auto cannons it mounts, and the 57mm naval gun, to fight the small craft. A 6-12 mile range for combating these threats is adequate.
However, it will also face larger corvette and light frigate sized vessels in the littorals. Right now the LCS has no adequate offense for these types of vessels. They desperately need a longer range anti-shipping missile. The Harpoon would be great for this. One, four missile cannister would work and would be relatively easy to mount. So would a vertically launched Later they can add the VLS these vessels were deigned to ultimately have and place four of the coming LRASM missiles in them. The smaller missiles lack the effective range or size to combat these types of vessels.
The point is, for the role the LCS is meant for, it needs both capabilities. A 6-12 mile missile capability for “swarming” small vessels, and a 40-60 mile missile capability for larger corvettes and light frigates.
As to the submarines, with the capability to carry two medium ASW helicopters (SH-60s) and the capability in an ASW module to have various other options, it should be able to handle that mission.
As to mine warfare, with a Mine Warfare module that allows for remote hunting devices, its own weapons, and the ability to carry a MH-53 Sea Dragon anti-mine helo, it should be able to handle that mission as well.
As to aircraft, its Rolling Air Frame missiles (RAM) are meant to protect it from that threat, but they too are short ranged. By adding the eight cell VLS the vessels were designed for (but did not have installed) these vessels could then pack four of those cells with quad pack them with ESSM and then they would also have a very decent medium range anti-air capability too.
That’s the kind of thing they need to do for the 32 vessels they do build.