Posted on 03/04/2013 1:38:49 PM PST by blam
The Navy's Next-Generation Warship Gets Two Critical Defensive Boosts
Robert Johnson
March 4, 2013, 8:06 AM
The Navy's new $440-million Littoral Combat Ship needs some help taking care of itself. The LCS is said to be vulnerable to incoming strikes, meaning it might not survive a shootout with, say, China.
Thankfully the ship may get two new life-saving escorts.
First, DARPA wants to boost the Independence-class LCS drone capability to host a 27-foot wingspan Predator-like UAV. Previously it could only launch and receive a modest tactical drone like the ScanEagle. The new TERN program calls for a drone that can be ship-launched and recovered, while also carrying a 600-pound payload up to a 900-mile radius from the ship.
Second, the LCS is getting a new robotic surface-based mine hunter called the Unmanned Influence Sweep System.
All the LCS needs now is a sub-hunting guide to help it avoid another underwater threat, and it just so happens DARAPA's lining one of those up as well. The ACTUV sub-tracking drone is taking shape at SAIC, but no word yet on where it will be assigned once it's ready for deployment.
Click here to tour the Independence Class LCS.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
The ship(the whole class) is a HUGE boondoggle, it has major design issues and very bad electrolysis problems. What’s more, it doesn’t even carry an engineering crew capable of even minor repairs. The Navy doesn’t want to admit it bought a lemon
this thing is a waste of money, especially if it’s suppose to go inshore (which is what littoral means). it wouldn’t survive one kamikaze attack like the DDs off okinawa.
“Dunno just what “combat” this LCS is capable of.”
I’m thinking sailing up the rivers of the US, deploying troops to put down the coming revolution.
Freepers is the smawtest peoples and the most knowledgablest on the planet.
Wire at the Hotel...
It looks nothing like the Independence I was stationed on.
Admirals Yacht....
having served on board a nuclear submarine for a number of years....
It's even got a garage to park the limos!
The danger to this ship is skimmer missiles, the aluminum hull crushes like a beer can instead of a soup can. The robotic fly and swim toys are nothing but highly expensive bells and whistles. Not going to do much good to launch a drone if there is no place to land it when it runs out of fuel.
More stupidity by the Goobermint, put these government political designers on these boats and they will end up armored like the cars they drive. But when its only sailors, then heck, build them out of aluminum.
I suggest putting a deposit on them like a soda can for recycling, cause your going to need to.
http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/littoral/
Better get used to seeing these since it looks like the Navy has already ordered a dozen and plans on 50+. The project history is interesting to say the least.
Nothing worse than a hairy warship.
Build 25 Zumwalts.
Load them with nuclear tipped cruise missles and nuclear ASW.
Put in the directed energy weapons that they are wired for.
Sea control - guaranteed.
50 Littoral Casualty Ships?
Unusable. No value against the Chicoms.
If you had ANY idea how much the corrosion problems on this platform have already cost us taxpayers, you wouldn’t be laughing about it
What it actually needs are some much, much better anti-surface missiles (ASMs) with range enough to defeat the other littoral corvette sized ships it is apt to face who will be carrying between four and eitght such missiles themselves.
In the atni-surface role and mission pack, the NLOS missile (whose range was shorter than our adversaries) has been cancelled and now they are making due with the Griffin missile that have less than a ten mile range.
Either they should bolt tywo dual or quad cannister Harpoon launchers to these vessels, or supply them with a 16 cell Mk-41 VLS, which they are both designed to carry, and put at least eight of the new ASM Tiomoahwks in there with the rest being ESSM anti-air missiles.
That is where these ships are the weakest, and while the things DARPA is proposing are neat...they will not save it in an engagement with another modern corvette sized vessel in the littoral spaces.
Right now the various modules aren’t even in existence, let alone available and able to be swapped out in any of time frame.
The whole Little Crappy Ship program is a overpriced disaster.
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