What do you think of the idea of just building additional San Antonio class amphibious transport dock ships, capable of fielding a variety of manned and unmanned vessels and mission packages? The ships could sit further out at sea, out of range of shore-based anti-ship missiles, while being able to haul and support larger vessels for close littoral work.
And when not needed for LCS-type tasks, the ships would be available in case we again needed amphibious capability again.
“What do you think of the idea of just building additional San Antonio class amphibious transport dock ships, “
You’re thinking like somebody who is paying for it rather than somebody who wants a promotion. Nobody along the chain would get promotions or good effectiveness ratings by suggesting we re-apply an existing cheaper solution. But a new class of ships and lots and lots of contract money which can be leveraged to political advantage, now there’s a reason for a totally new design. Plus, the LCS was touted as the new eNavy that would make everything so much cheaper and so much more useful than those crew-intensive old heavy blue water ships.