A recent test launch of an anti-aircraft missile from a Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) demonstrated the capacity to expand the mission set of the ships and there is more experimenting with the vessels ongoing to explore their versatility, several Navy officials said on Monday.
The October test of the Standard Missile-6 from a containerized launch system aboard the Independence-variant USS Savannah (LCS 28) combined with the recent initial operating capability of the mine countermeasures mission (MCM) package for the ships and maritime security patrols in the Western Pacific show the “full spectrum of operations that our ships have been executing,” Capt. Marc Crawford, commodore, LCS Squadron One in San Diego, said during a virtual media roundtable on the LCS program.
The Independence-variant ships that are deployed all have the Naval Strike Missile and there is a plan to eventually install the anti-ship missiles on the Freedom-class LCS as well, Crawford and Capt. Mark Haney, commodore, LCS Squadron 2 in Mayport, Fla., said.
The installations of the Naval Strike Missiles are “planned and bought for” and possibly could be pulled forward, Rear Adm. Theodore “Ted” LeClair, deputy commander, Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, and director of Task Force LCS, said during the roundtable.
The recent SM-6 test is a “indicative to get a sense of where our head’s at” given the versatility of the launcher, LeClair said. The Navy’s Expeditionary Strike Groups are “thinking beyond just the traditional surface and MCM mission package” for the LCS, he said.
There is also a “desire” to have the LCS fleet more involved with unmanned systems, LeClair said, highlighting that the mission bay and flight deck aboard both variants of the ship are “significant” and “we’re constantly looking at how to mix and match capabilities.”
The USS Oakland (LCS 24) served as a “mothership” to push the “innovative boundaries” with unmanned aircraft and other unmanned systems during the recent Autonomous Warrior exercise in the Western Pacific, Crawford said. These are systems that have not operated from the LCS before and the Navy “is looking at how we can employ these systems in an innovative concept of operations,” he said.
The Navy is assessing how the unmanned systems can team with existing systems and “feed into a joint environment” that includes all the services, he said.
Haney said that the Navy’s Fifth Fleet Commander has proposed putting some additional capabilities on the LCS that have been used in the Middle East theater to include Special Operations Forces and an 11-meter rigid inflatable boat and related boarding team capability. He also said Freedom-class ships have performed as a mothership for unmanned systems as part of the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command’s Task Force 59 that is integrating and evaluating unmanned systems and artificial intelligence technologies for maritime operations.
The mission bay on the LCS “brings a lot of flexibility to the platform that you don’t get with traditional combatants,” Haney said.
There are no limits as to the types and sizes of unmanned systems that the Navy is looking at to operate from the LCS fleet, LeClair said.
Crawford and Haney agreed.
“We see the playground that is ahead of us with the oceans and in the airspace that we’re operating in, and we’re going to leverage the systems and the capability that the LCS have inherently and then partner that with inorganic systems that would improve lethality and survivability for the ships,” Crawford said.
The mission bay and flight deck on each LCS provides more flexibility than traditional surface combatants have for operating with different unmanned systems and other technology, Haney said.
The Independence-class LCS are built by Austal USA and Lockheed Martin [LMT] is the prime contractor for the Freedom-class ships.