Sidebar: Modular Mission Packages Offer Asymmetric Strength
Sidebar: Open Architecture: The Critical Network-Centric Warfare Enabler
f the past. We must find better ways of doing business.
The embodiment of change and creativity in the surface Navy is the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). LCS is a radical departure from the past designed to meet urgent needs of the present and future. It represents a fundamental shift in surface warfare thought. It challenges traditional notions about what a warship is and can be. It leverages emerging technologies and a new approach to warfare to fill critical warfighting gaps in the littorals, and it will begin to fill them in record time. It is the catalyst for numerous innovations of Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Vern Clark's ""Sea Power 21"" vision.
Capability-Centric System-of-Systems
The combat power of previous surface combatants was platform-centric; in other words, it was permanently installed in the platform itself. It could be changed only through an intrusive modernization process. LCS will be capability-centric. Its modular design will enable rapid reconfiguration of warfare capabilities.
The LCS hull is called a seaframe; like an airframe, it can embark different weapons and sensors to support different missions. The seaframe will have core self-defense systems, but the bulk of the combat punch will come aboard with modular mission packages—largely self-contained units consisting of unmanned vehicles (UVs), helicopters, sensors, ordnance, support equipment, and the personnel to operate and maintain these systems. Each offboard vehicle will be able to deploy a variety of interchangeable payloads.
The LCS concept of operations (ConOps) involves distributing multiple sensors and weapons about the battle space, netting these together through ForceNet principles into a common operational picture. Once embarked, mission packages will be integrated through standard physical and digital interfaces to core seaframe services and command, control, communications, computers, combat, and intelligence (C5I) systems. LCS will feature the first shipwide C5I open systems architecture. It will have open and nonproprietary standards, enabling it to receive and integrate the best available technical solutions.
There are many advantages to the LCS concept:
Operational Flexibility. During a recent interview, Admiral Clark noted, ""It is important for us to develop military capability that can respond to different circumstances . . . not wed to one particular problem set that will occur with great clarity. I just don't think the world is like that. We must focus on a capabilities-based military."" LCS capability can change to keep pace with the dynamic operations of the 21st century, allowing a commander to rapidly reconfigure the combat power of the ship to suit the changing tactical situation. Mission packages, prestaged in areas of likely conflict and tailored to anticipated threats, can be swapped out in one to four days. Additional packages, individual systems, or sailors can be moved into the theater as needed. Likewise, new capabilities can be added in the future to address new missions or as yet unforeseen threats.
Rapid Modernization and Technology Refresh. Platform-centricity has led to an abundance of C5I baselines and variants in our legacy surface combatant force. To modernize these ships requires a lengthy stay in the shipyard. We no longer can afford this approach—it is expensive, difficult to manage, disrupts crew continuity and training, and takes the ship out of action for long periods. LCS open systems architecture, as well as the flexibility provided by modularity, will facilitate rapid and cost-effective modernization. Rather than having to rip out a ship's combat system or wait years to capitalize on emerging technologies, we will replace the unmanned vehicles or their payloads and upgrade the C5I software interface. This will mean lower life-cycle costs and greater operational availability for the LCS.
The Power of Unmanned Vehicles. LCS will embark and employ unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), and vertical takeoff and landing unmanned aerial vehicles (VTUAVs). UAVs such as Global Hawk and Predator have demonstrated their effectiveness over Afghanistan, Iraq, and Yemen. USVs such as Spartan Scout, a prototype we deployed to the Arabian Gulf in 2003, already are beginning to revolutionize our Navy. Unmanned vehicles soon will do likewise for mine countermeasures, surface warfare, antisubmarine warfare, antiterrorism/force protection, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. In the LCS vision, UVs are:
- Able to employ multiple interchangeable payloads, from electro-optical/infrared cameras to radars, sonars, weapons, and smaller special-purpose UVs
- Less risky to personnel and the ship, keeping sailors out of minefields and allowing engagement from beyond an enemy's weapons release range
- Small and inexpensive compared to manned vehicles, and can embark many UVs and payloads aboard a relatively small platform
- Less manpower intensive; a single watch stander can monitor and control multiple autonomous or semiautonomous UVs
- Available 24 hours a day
The Power of Distributed Systems. Numbers count. This is particularly true in the tough littoral environment. LCS will rely in large part on its ability to simultaneously operate multiple widely dispersed offboard systems. Each system—whether a data relay on a VTUAV, a side-scan sonar towed behind a USV, or the Advanced Deployable System underwater acoustic array—will be a node in the LCS network, integrated into a common operational picture. LCS itself will be a node in the larger theater ForceNet network. This concept is a force multiplier because it:
- Extends battle space, enhances situational awareness, and allows persistent intelligence collection, surveillance, and reconnaissance, increasing ability to gather actionable knowledge
- Increases probability of detection of enemy submarines, mines, and surface craft—before they are able to find or damage our units—by dispersing more sensors over a larger area
- Promotes time-critical engagement at stand-off range, increasing warfighting and ship self-defense effectiveness
- Simplifies the rules of engagement problem by helping sort out hostile intent before potential enemy forces reach their weapons release range
Innovative Deployment Concepts. Because it is designed for change, LCS will be tailor-made for Sea Swap, a method of rotating crews to forward-deployed ships that already has been proved to increase the efficiency of deployments with destroyers and guided-missile destroyers. LCS seaframes could be forward deployed to potential hot spots for 18 months to 2 years, rotating core crews every 6 months and mission packages as required by the tactical situation. Sea Swap increases on-station time by precluding the long transits to and from fleet concentration areas. Another advantage is that Sea Swap provides persistent ""presence with a purpose""; ships will be on station conducting high-demand peacetime missions such as maritime interdiction operations and peacetime engagement exercises, ready to transition to prehostility operations when needed.
The Seaframe
The nontraditional features of LCS are the result of industry efforts to meet fleet requirements. Given the mix of requirements and the innovative design plans of both Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics, it is not surprising that these warships are different from any in our naval history.
The Need for Speed. The LCS's high speed (full load sprint speeds are 45 and 46 knots, respectively, for the Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics designs) has been criticized as a luxury at the expense of more important capabilities. In fact, high speed is crucial to the LCS ConOps and self-defense. It:
- Enhances survival and tactics against torpedo and small boat attack and allows more modest, economical core defense systems
- Enables LCS to sprint ahead of a carrier or expeditionary strike group to sanitize choke points or perform prehostility intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, special operations force, or deterrence operations
- Contributes to battlespace mobility to launch, recover, and monitor distributed offboard systems
- Facilitates rapid transit to port or sea base for module swap out and tactical repositioning of LCS within the theater
- Enhances inherent missions, especially intratheater mobility and logistics, maritime interdiction operations, sea line of communication patrols, and special operations forces missions
Not a ""Little Ship."" The 2,839-metric-ton Lockheed Martin and 2,675-metric-ton General Dynamics designs are light as surface combatants go. Lockheed Martin's LCS draft of 12.8 feet and General Dynamics' 14.8 feet open ports and sea room forbidden to other surface combatants—but these seaframes are not small in size or volume. At 378 feet, Lockheed Martin's design is longer than a football field, and its 57.4-foot beam rivals that of an Arleigh Burke (DDG-51)-class guided-missile destroyer (59 feet). The General Dynamics design is 416.7 feet in length, and its trimaran hullform allows a beam of 99.7 feet—not a ""little ship"" at all. A key parameter we recognized early was that LCS had to be roomy enough to be self-deployable and sustainable at sea through conventional replenishment methods. In addition, it had to have sufficient payload capacity to carry primary mission packages and possess seakeeping qualities that support crew performance and are stable enough at sea to operate helicopters and unmanned vehicles. Both designs provide impressive capabilities in these areas:
Table 1: LCS Design, Range & Seakeeping
Lockheed Martin LCS General
Dynamics LCS
(215-MT mission pkg) (210-MT
mission pkg)
Cruise range 3,550 nm at 18 knots 4,300 nm at 20
knots
Sprint range 1,150 nm at 45 knots 1,942 nm at
46 knots
Aircraft launch sea state 5 sea state 5
& recovery
Watercraft launch sea state 4 sea state 4
& recovery
The ability to tailor LCS mission capabilities, not only at the mission level (ASW, MCM, or SUW) but also as dictated by the threat, makes the ship extraordinarily flexible. The ability to make changes ""on the fly"" (airlift new modules to any port) means the commander can change the capabilities of the force as fast or faster than the enemy can change his ability to threaten us.
- Mines. As demonstrated again during Operation Iraqi Freedom, mines are a potent threat. One merchant ship or maritime prepositioning ship sunk by a mine could cause an environmental disaster, plug an economically important sea-lane, kill many people, and place an entire campaign in jeopardy. And just about any enemy can buy and lay cheap sea mines. During Iraqi Freedom, our MCM forces, which included the high-speed vessel Joint Venture (HSV-X1) and UUVs, cleared hundreds of miles of water in the Khor Abd Allah and Umm Qasr waterways, paving the way for maritime operations, coalition resupply, and humanitarian aid shipments to Iraq. LCS, employing an array of advanced systems operated from helicopters or UVs to detect and neutralize mines, will lead the way through choke points, sanitize shipping routes, and clear operating areas or ports.
- Small Boats. As demonstrated by the terrorist attack on the USS Cole (DDG-67) in Yemen and the recent suicide attacks on oil platforms in the Arabian Gulf, small boats laden with explosives are a threat. A single boat severely damaged the Cole. Multiple small high-speed boats attacking our Sea Base or strike groups would present a challenge. Although we are increasing the capability of surface ships to defend themselves against small boats, we need a ship that can find and neutralize these boats before they can reach our high-value units. LCS will employ UV, helicopter, and seaframe sensors and weapons to render this threat impotent.
- Diesel Submarines. Looming larger all the time is the diesel submarine threat. Compared to U.S. nuclear submarines, diesels are less sophisticated and relatively cheap but still difficult to detect and highly effective in the shallow, noisy littoral environment. By deploying many different sensors—acoustic and nonacoustic, active and passive—LCS will increase the probability of detection so that weapons can be brought to bear to neutralize diesel subs.
LCS also will fill a force structure gap. We need ships to perform day-to-day, high-demand, low-intensity missions in the littorals, such as maritime interdiction and counterdrug operations. Using an Aegis destroyer or cruiser would be a poor use of limited resources, but these are missions for which LCS is optimized. Its speed and offboard vehicles will make it a more capable platform for such operations, freeing high-end multimission combatants for more suitable roles in theater air and ballistic missile defense, strike, naval surface fire support, or strike group escort.
In addition, LCS will be capable of performing many other missions across the range of littoral operations. The most of important of these for the future may be joint mobility and logistics. Without a primary mission package embarked, the LCS seaframe will be able to transport troops, ammunition, equipment, and supplies at high speed within the theater and to and from the sea base. Both the Marine Corps and the Army have experimented with HSVs for this mission, and the capability was demonstrated during Iraqi Freedom by the Joint Venture. The Navy SEALS have shown interest in LCS for special operations forces missions.
Perhaps the greatest benefit of LCS's flexibility is that it will allow us to counter our enemies' asymmetric threats with our greatest asymmetric strength—the adaptability of our sailors. They will learn to use LCS in ways we have not even thought about.
What we are doing with LCS is a challenge, but it is a challenge with a big payoff. As we learn more, we are adjusting course, infusing new knowledge into the spiral development process through analysis and experimentation. Here again we see the beauty of the LCS concept: unlike any warship before it, LCS can accommodate change because it was designed with change in mind.
Admiral LaFleur is Commander, Naval Surface Forces.
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