The littoral combat ship USS Freedom (LCS 1) is underway off the coast of Oregon conducting rough water trials on March 17, 2015. US Navy photo.
The Navy held an industry day for companies interested in participating in the frigate program, walking them through what is already decided about the future ship program and what decisions are pending industry feedback. Read More
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. Read More
USS Independence (CV-62) in 1979. US Navy Photo
The decommissioned aircraft carrier Independence (CV-62) will depart from Naval Station Kitsap, Wash. for Brownsville, Texas on Saturday, Naval Sea Systems Command announced on Thursday. Read More
The littoral combat ship USS Independence (LCS-2) deploys a remote multi-mission vehicle (RMMV) while testing the ship’s mine countermeasures mission package (MCM) off the southern California coast in August 2013. Austal USA photo.
The Littoral Combat Ship’s mine countermeasures (MCM) mission package will not reach initial operational capability (IOC) by the end of September as planned, after reliability issues forced the program to stretch out the test period and delay Pentagon-level initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E). Read More
USS Independence (LCS 2) departs San Diego for Pensacola, Fla., to conduct operational evaluation and testing of the mine countermeasures mission package. US Navy Photo
The test ship for the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) mine countermeasure (MCM) mission package shipped out from Naval Station San Diego, Calif., last week. Read More
U.S. Navy Photo
The Pentagon plans to cut the total number of Littoral Combat Ships by 20 — from 52 to 32 — according to a Wednesday report in Defense News. Read More
USS Freedom (LCS 1), transits the waters of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. Freedom’s maiden proof-of-concept deployment on Dec. 13, 2013. US Navy Photo
Congress is asking for additional oversight of the Littoral Combat Ship program as part of the Fiscal Year 2014 defense authorization bill, ahead of a planned Fiscal Year 2015 block buy for 20 more of the ships. Read More
From the Congressional Research Service Sept. 27, 2013 Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) report:The LCS program has become controversial due to past cost growth, design and construction issues with the lead ships built to each design, concerns over the ships’ ability to withstand battle damage, and concerns over whether the ships are sufficiently armed and would be able to perform their stated missions effectively. Some observers, citing one or more of these issues, have proposed truncating the LCS program to either 24 ships (i.e., stopping procurement after procuring all the ships covered under the two block buy contracts) or to some other number well short of 52. Other observers have proposed down selecting to a single LCS design (i.e., continuing production of only one of the two designs) after the 24th ship. Read More
Cmdr. Pat Thien, left, Commanding Officer of the littoral combat ship USS Freedom (LCS-1) on Aug. 13, 2013.
The Navy is considering increasing the crew sizes for both variants of the Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) by 2015, according to a July report obtained by USNI News based on the early data from the current deployment of USS Freedom (LCS-1) and tests aboard USS Independence (LCS-2).
The report — prepared on the Office of Chief of Operations (OPNAV) surface warfare office — recommends the Navy add accommodations to berth 98 crewmembers ahead of a 2014 study that could increase the crew’s size. Read More
From the July 2013 Office of Chief of Operations (OPNAV) report — Littoral Combat Ship Manning Concepts:
Based on current analysis and lessons learned from FREEDOM’s deployment, LCS will be configured to support up to 98 total personnel, to include core crew, Mission Package detachment, and aviation detachment. Projected costs to modify ships to accommodate this manning level are $600,000 for LCS-3 and $700,000 for LCS-4. Projected design and engineering costs for future ships are estimated at $6 million for both LCS variants. The costs to modified follow on ships will be addressed in future budgets.
Manpower and workload analyses of FREEDOM’s eight-month deployment to the Western Pacific will continue through her deployment. Finally,Navy Manpower Analysis Center will conduct a study aboard FREEDOM in early 2014 to support the development of the LCS Ship’s Manpower Document (SMD) which will further codify manpower requirements and policies and validate crew size, crew rotation construct, and associated shore manpower required to operate and support the LCS class. Read More
