One of the major programs of the navy is to roll a program for the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) that will make it a major part of the fleet. These will be improvements learned from misstarts applied to the vessels.
Since the introduction of the LCS, the U.S. Navy has been disappointed with the series that have not been as useful as the Arleigh Burke-class. According to Chief of Naval Operations Adm., Michael Gilday said that the improvements will be overseen by him.
He said in a press brief that the LCS will be tuned to get the vessel, up to better standards so it can be a major part of the U.S. Fleet.
He mentioned that the platform has needed a major overhaul with many of the kinks that have made the series worrisome to operate. The focus will be on fixing everything to get it up to spec.
The LCS has been operational since 2008, and the admiral said it should be finished, mentioning that five deployments have been done and more to come to get the LCS ship shape.
According to the admiral, most of the problems include manning to keeping the hulls, and other vital parts of the ship that needs maintenance and the crucial systems that are used for the missions, noted Finance.
Congress has marked the littoral ship as useless with the difficulties to add new technologies into the platform.
Several of the systems that will be added are the mine-hunting mission module that will be taking the job of minesweeping, and the anti-submarine warfare (ASW) mission suite. These systems will be included in the LCS, which will give the ships a part in the fleet.
"I have to deliver ... both the mine and ASW modules," Gilday said, according to Defense News. "These ships are probably going to [start going] away in the mid-2030s if the [future frigate] FFG(X) build goes as planned. But I need to wring as much as I can out of those ships as quickly as I can."
The LCS comes in two configurations, one is a single hull type made by Lockheed Martin and Fincantierin. Aother is trimaran or tri-hull built by Austal USA. A total of 35 ships were funded, with 20 of them already commissioned though many of them are plagued by problems in the mechanicals. It is supposed to go 40 knots but that was the core of the ship's problems, cited USNI.
During 2016, the fleet started to implement changes like a single crew will be operating mission profile, by switching out from anti-surface, anti-sub, and mine sweeping modules. Instead, the personnel will be dedicated to one mission profile only.
Some sources spoke on the condition of keeping anonymous regarding aspects of the mission profiles.
The module dedicated to anti-mine operations will be ready for a final test and be evaluated if it does work, at the end of 2021. Further information indicates the component for systems has passed trials and starting production too. Some sources say it might be online by 2022.
But for the anti-sub operations suite, it is unclear and is a victim of budget cuts, so far the system is installed in LCS Fort Worth with testing starting last fall. Plans to take off four LCS in the fleet will cause delays overall.
According to Gilday, the littoral class combat ship needs to get fined tune and the systems installed. But the best thing about the LCS in the U.S. Navy is that it can work operations suited for it, and replace ships too.
Related article: US Navy Replaces Littoral Combat Ship with More Powerful Combat System
