Carries a few missiles, a CIWS system, a helipad, and one cannon.
This is for the Coast Guard, right??
And they are only one billion dollars each.
-This is for the Coast Guard, right??-
This ship was designed with the intention of getting closer to the enemy shore than most deep ocean ships could go. It is aluminum with almost no armor. It is largely open without the normal watertight compartments due to the mission module concept. It ignores everything we know about ship survival for speed and maneuverability.
When I asked the Army representative about the slab side design and little armor of the new Future Combat System vehicle designs he said, “We will have total control of the battle air space and these vehicles will be behind safe lines.” That was before the Gulf Wars where there was no recognizable battlefield. Wherever you were at the time was the battlefield. In other words, the Army adjusted its thinking about reality to get the fantasy they wanted.
The LCS ignores mines and the fact that non-state actors like Hezbollah have Silkworm airship missiles. It is some admiral-s fantasy dream. Let us hope very few men are killed before the Navy comes to its senses and relegates them to non-battle duties.
Realistically, is the LCS ever going to be operating without over-the-horizon support from deep water hulls like destroyers & cruisers, not to mention air support? Mounting a medium-range anti-ship missile on these small vessels seems like a tremendous waste of precious deck space. Most of their opposition is going to be small speedboats, sea-skimming missiles and the AIP submarine — non of which are harpoon targets.