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How do you build a ship without a mission? The littoral combat ship (LCS) is how. It could not carry out its original mission because the ship is not survivable in combat. The billions wasted on the US Navy’s so-called “urban street fighter” ship could have been used to build additional missile defense AEGIS destroyers or give the Navy more firepower or finance a new generation of robotic surface and subsurface vessels. Instead, the Navy chose to build ships it did not need and could not use. Even when they were deployed, they often broke down, deeply embarrassing the Navy...

The U.S. Navy decommissioned the littoral combat ship (LCS) USS Sioux City (LCS 11) on Monday after less than five years in service. The Freedom-variant LCS was built by Fincantieri Marinette Marine in Marinette, Wisconsin, and commissioned November 17, 2018, at the Naval Academy in Annapolis.

Longish article. Several embedded videos. Good stuff. Excerpts below. “The latest incident to befall the U.S. Navy’s troubled Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) was an embarrassingly public one, and one that left the brand-new USS Cleveland (LCS-31) damaged in the process of being launched, in front of around 3,000 people, including members of the media. The Navy has now issued a statement providing more details of the collision between the Cleveland — which is the last of the 16-strong Freedom class — and a tugboat involved during the warship’s recent christening.” “No personnel injuries occurred, but there was limited damage” to...

Subtitle: The oldest Littoral Combat Ship on the chopping block is just seven years old. The U.S. Navy will reportedly seek to decommission between eight and 10 Freedom class Littoral Combat Ships, or LCSs, as part of its budget proposal for the 2023 Fiscal Year. This would despite the oldest example still on active duty being only seven years old. Last year, the service admitted that it would take years to implement critical fixes to the propulsion systems on all of the Freedom class vessels it has acquired to date. Politico first reported this news today, citing three individuals familiar...

Littoral Combat Ship Deploys for First Time in 19 Months; USS Montgomery Left Unannounced in Early June By: Megan Eckstein July 1, 2019 12:26 PM • Updated: July 1, 2019 10:41 PM The littoral combat ship USS Montgomery (LCS-8) departs Naval Base San Diego to conduct routine operations and training in the Pacific Ocean. US Navy photo. This post has been updated to include a comment from a Navy official regarding the timeline of the USS Montgomery deployment. There is a Littoral Combat Ship operating forward on deployment for the first time in 19 months, with USS Montgomery (LCS-8) arriving...

WASHINGTON: Even as Congress inches toward cutting off arms sales to Saudi Arabia over the disappearance of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi and Riyadh’s grinding war in Yemen, the United States is preparing to ship $14.5 billion worth of arms to the increasingly embattled kingdom. Those weapons include “helicopters, tanks, ships, weapons, and training,” a Pentagon spokesman said, confirming they were part of the $110 billion worth of arms the Trump administration pledged to sell Saudi over the next decade. While defense and diplomatic officials declined to put a timetable on the delivery of the equipment — or offer specifics...

The Freedom-variant littoral combat ship USS Milwaukee (LCS 5) conducted a live-fire missile exercise off the coast of Virginia May 11, firing four longbow hellfire missiles that successfully struck fast inshore attack craft targets. US Navy photo. The Navy completed the first phase of its Surface-to-Surface Missile Module (SSMM) developmental testing for the Littoral Combat Ship program, with a May 11 live-fire test of the missile off USS Milwaukee (LCS-5). Milwaukee fired four AGM-114L Longbow Hellfire missiles that successfully struck fast inshore attack craft (FIAC) targets in a complex warfighting environment, according to a Navy news release. The SSMM consists...

The Navy has moved forward with funding five potential designs that could fulfill its future guided missile frigate FFG(X) requirement. At least 20 of these vessels will be built, and as we have discussed in detail before, the project is among the Navy's most important initiatives. Fielding a highly capable surface combatant that can pick up many missions currently being conducted by over-tasked and far more expensive destroyers will be essential to providing a more flexible and sustainable fleet in the decades to come. The $15M contracts were awarded to General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, Fincantieri Marine, Huntington Ingalls, Austal...

USS Freedom (LCS-1) and USS Independence (LCS-2) This post has been updated to include the link to the full Request for Information. The Navy released the first formal details on what it wants in its guided-missile frigate in a new request for information to industry issued today. The new ship concept outlined in the RFI in many ways resembles the Navy’s previous frigate plans but also looks at upgrades like more powerful radars and vertical-launch missile tubes. The RFI notes the Navy is still seeking industry input on a variety of capabilities – including, how to incorporate missile launchers for...

U.S. President Donald Trump will unveil the largest single American weapons sale to Saudi Arabia to date during his trip to the kingdom, which began on May 19, 2017. The deal will include weapons and equipment for the Royal Saudi air and land forces, which have been critical in Riyadh’s intervention in Yemen, as well as ballistic missile defense systems essential to for the country to counter Iran's missile forces during a conflict. However, it may be new support for the relatively small Royal Saudi Navy that speaks more to the country’s desire to project even greater power in the...

[UPDATED with Sec. Stackley comments] WASHINGTON: The Navy is seriously considering derivatives of foreign designs and the Coast Guard’s National Security Cutter for its new frigate, after three years pursuing an upgraded version of its current Littoral Combat Ship. The shift has shaken up the industry, panicking some players, while others quietly reposition: Wisconsin’s Marinette Marine, which currently builds the 3,500-ton Freedom variant of the LCS, may instead offer an Americanized version of the FREMM, a 6,000 to 6,700-ton frigate built for the French and Italian navies by Marinette’s parent company, Fincantieri. If so, Marinette would probably part ways with...

An artist’s representation of a Harpoon Anti-Ship Missile. Boeing Image Boeing is no longer offering an upgraded variant of its RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship cruise missile as part of a competition to field an over-the-horizon anti-ship missile for the frigate and the Littoral Combat Ship, a company official told USNI News on Tuesday. “We’ve really taken a hard look at what the requirements are that [Naval Sea System Command] has looked for in the request. We’ve kept up to speed on every [request for proposal] modification and with that the constant change in the top-level requirements every time they do a...

Austal USA frigate design. Austal USA image THE PENTAGON – The Navy is considering increasing its future frigate’s anti-air firepower and may open up the frigate design competition to hulls beyond the current two small surface combatant , the service told USNI News on Wednesday. An ongoing study will balance the original frigate requirements – to up-gun the existing Littoral Combat Ship designs with additional anti-surface and anti-submarine capabilities – with the desire for anti-air firepower equivalent to a guided-missile frigate. The study, set to be completed this spring, will also evaluate other design beyond the Lockheed Martin Freedom-variant (LCS-1)...

At the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space 2017 exposition currently held near Washington D.C., Austal USA rolled out an updated LCS Frigate design called the "Austal Frigate". The main modifications consist in a slightly shortened flight deck in order to fit anti-ship missile launchers and a variable depth sonar in order to add capabilities to the ship's aft. The new Austal Frigate features a redesigned stern to add capabilities to the ship's aft. According to Austal USA, the Austal Frigate possesses increased lethality and high-speed shallow draft multi-mission combatant capabilities on a seaframe nearly identical to the Independence-class Littoral Combat Ship. This...

The ‘Independence’-class Littoral Combat Ship USS ‘Coronado’ in October 2016. U.S. Navy photo The Navy’s $29 billion Littoral Combat Ship program provides a step-by-step case study in acquisition failures and the costs and risks of unacceptable levels of concurrency. Its design requirements were poorly conceived, the manpower planning was wildly unrealistic, Navy leadership and program managers repeatedly circumvented acquisition rules — increasing concurrency and cost risk — and production was approved despite poor and rushed analysis. Production milestones were approved despite glaring program failures. Moreover, the program is an example of how unwilling Congress is to step in and hold defense acquisition programs accountable....

The Navy's Littoral Combat Ship program is behind schedule, hundreds of millions over budget, and incapable of conducting most of the basic missions it was intended to carry out. Senators on Thursday said they wanted to know why. "Like so many major programs that preceded it, LCS's failure followed predictably from an inability to define and stabilize requirements, unrealistic initial cost estimates, and unreliable assessments of technical and integration risk, made worse by repeatedly buying ships and mission packages before proving they are effective and can be operated together," said Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., told Pentagon witnesses...

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It’s been rough sailing for the U.S. Navy’s new Littoral Combat Ship. The speedy, warship has come under fire for being lightly-armed, weakly-built, undermanned, and prone to rusting—and yet, at the same time, way too expensive. And in recent months, four of the 400-foot-long warships—half of the Littoral Combat Ships currently in commission—have suffered serious engine breakdowns, possible signs of systemic problems with the ship’s design and operating procedures. As if that weren’t enough for the beleaguered vessel, David Giles, a prominent ship-designer, is accusing the Navy of stealing his concepts for a high-speed cargo ship and illegally applying them...

The Russian Navy held the keel laying ceremony for the first Project 20386 Corvette "Derzky" on 28 October 2016 at Severnaya Verf (Northern Shipyard) shipyard in Saint Petersburg. This new corvette class was designed by Almaz. According to the shipyard, Project 20386 is a multipurpose vessels designed to patrol the EEZ and conduct missions against air, surface and underwater targets, protect sea lanes and control maritime economic activity. Project 20386 Corvette Derzky Russia 1Artist impression of the new Project 20386 Corvette for the Russian Navy The Project 20386 is fundamentally a new design concept for the Russian Navy: It features...

The head of the surface Navy on Thursday fired the commanding officer of a littoral combat ship that damaged one of its main propulsion diesel engines in July. Vice Adm. Tom Rowden cashiered the CO of Crew 106 of LCS Freedom, Cmdr. Michael Wohnhaas, “due to loss of confidence in his ability to effectively lead and carry out his assigned duties,” Naval Surface Force Pacific said in a Friday release announcing the removal. “The loss of confidence followed an investigation into the facts and circumstances surrounding damage to the ship's number 2 main propulsion diesel engine (#2 MPDE) that occurred...