In the Global War on Terror, littoral operations continue to receive serious attention, especially in regions such as the Persian Gulf. Two new prototype systems are poised to become premier littoral combat weapons: the X-Craft, recently christened Sea Fighter (FSF-I), a 262-foot catamaran specifically designed for littoral operations within 100 nautical miles of land, and the aptly-dubbed Affordable Weapon.
Sea Fighter, originally designated littoral surface craft (experimental) or LSC(X), started life in 1997 as a platform dedicated to littoral operations. It was later tagged as a test bed for the littoral combat ship (LCS) program. This design is unique in the Navy. It has a combined diesel-gas turbine power plant capable of speeds in excess of 50 knots. The ship has a 72-foot beam and a draft of 11.5 feet. It displaces 960 metric tons. The range is greater than 4,000 nautical miles at 20 knots. The engine arrangement includes two General Electric LM2500 gas turbines, two MTU 16V595 TE 90 diesels, and four Rolls-Royce 125SH water jets. It provides two HH-60 helicopter spots. A stern ramp can accommodate most of the craft used by Navy SEALs, Marines, and other Special Operations Forces (SOF). A prototype Night Vision Goggle (NVG) compatible lighting suite is also installed on the flight deck to facilitate night landings. The stern ramp provides NVG access for returning combatant craft crews as well.
The Affordable Weapon is a low-cost missile with an 800 nautical mile range and a 200-pound warhead. It can loiter more than six hours and accommodate sensors and data links through panning and tilt gimbals. Powered by a solid rocket booster and a small turbojet, the Affordable Weapon is launched from a mobile container. Under an Office of Naval Research (ONR) contract to develop and demonstrate a low cost missile system, it made its first fully autonomous flight in December 2001. In April 2003, the system demonstrated in-flight retargeting by a forward observer using a line-of-sight data link with laser designation binoculars. Later that year, the system achieved in-flight retargeting via satellite. In January 2004, the Affordable Weapon program passed from ONR to the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA). Recently, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), in conjunction with the Army's "Long Gun" Program, looked at the Affordable Weapon with a view to replacing the turbojet with a rotary engine. This modification will leverage the Navy's program to become a reusable, low cost, joint, unmanned/armed missile system with 48-hour endurance at a cruise speed of 120 knots. The 200-pound payload remains intact with inertial and GPS navigation systems and forward-looking infrared (FLIR) sensors.
The missile can be configured for intelligence collection as well as attack. Potential target sets include troops, armor, anti-shipping, anti-small boat "swarms," communications facilities, and some bunker complexes. With its capability for aerial targeting-and retargeting-the Affordable Weapon provides an offensive system for Special Operations Forces in high-threat littoral areas. For example, a SOF advance unit could marshal several Affordable Weapons to be immediately on-call overhead. One missile can "peep" behind the next hill or building, relay data or TV images, and armed missiles called in via data link to take it out. Depending on procurement quantities, the predicted cost will be approximately $100,000 per weapon. The ease of deployment recommends this system for use with Sea Fighter as a primary littoral combat weapon.
The Affordable Weapon will doubtless find employment with Sea Fighter in combination with other combatant craft of the Naval Special Warfare Command. Deployed worldwide, SEAL and Special Boat Teams operate together under the aegis of the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), headquartered in Tampa, Florida. As the cost of ships continues to escalate-with new destroyers projected at over a billion dollars a copy-they could become too expensive to risk using near hostile coastlines when much cheaper weapons are available. Less expensive platforms and smaller crews will be required for littoral missions.
Several authors have looked at the future warrior of the 21st century including George and Meredith Friedman in The Future of War (1996), and James Dunnigan in The Perfect Soldier (2003). All highlight the Special Operations soldier as the future warrior. The Friedmans concluded:
The model for the soldier of the future is not the GI of our large scale wars, but the Special Operations trooper—the Green Beret, Special Air Service, Spetznaz (sic), or, indeed, knight of old. The future soldier will . . .have to master technologies that are esoteric in the extreme—communications theory, sensor technology, and so on. As with the Special Forces, the small size of the unit will require each man to become an expert.1
The authors also point out the importance of precision-guided munitions in American military operations, saying that "just as the gun shaped European power and culture, it appears to us that precision-guided munitions will shape American power and culture."2
According to military historian and analyst Dunnigan:
The twenty-first century is going to see a lot more carefully selected, intensively trained, and lavishly equipped troops. While Perfect Soldiers aren't cheap, they are effective, and they have been a long time coming.3
The "perfect soldier" in today's 21st century maritime littoral environment is the Navy SEAL and Special Boat sailor. Both are highly trained. Basic SEAL training takes six months. The candidate then undergoes another six months of extensive, advanced unit training before reporting to his final SEAL Team for duty, after which he undergoes specific orientation and assorted pre-deployment work-ups. The combatant craft sailordesignated "Special Warfare Combatant Craft (SWCC)"—goes through a similar rigorous, though shorter course. The two teams come together in pre-deployment training with the latest Special Operations equipment. In the future they should deploy aboard Sea Fighter or a variant.
SEALs, armed with Affordable Weapons, can operate with Special Boat Teams from ship. The Affordable Weapon can launch from the LSC(X) and loiter above the deployed SEAL element until called. It can fly in advance of the team and identify enemy positions, operating as a forward observer. It can also serve as a radio/data link with Sea Fighter and other forces as required. It can be programmed for pre-designated targets and launched off-shore from the vessel, which is capable of carrying 1,000 weapons.
The marriage of SEALs, the LSC(X), and the Affordable Weapon would fulfill the predictions of writers such as the Friedmans and Dunnigan. They have identified the "Perfect Soldiers" in the equation; at hand are two weapons systems that complete the picture. The potential combat power resident in the marriage of SOF with Sea Fighter and the Affordable Weapon represent a complete weapons system that could be ready in mere months and will be a prime littoral combat system of the 21 st century. A thousand Affordable Weapons can be loaded on the LSC(X). That's a lot of littoral combat capability for less than $150 million.
It should be pursued as a national priority.
1 George and Meredith Friedman, The Future of War: Power Technology & American World Dominance in the 21st Century (New York: Crown Publishers, 1996), p. 392.
2 The Future of War, p. 420.
3 James F. Dunnigan, The Perfect Soldier (New York: Citadel Press Books, 2003), p. 297.
Rear Admiral Worthington is a 1961 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and a veteran of Naval Special Warfare, having served two tours in Vietnam with Underwater Demolition Team 1 1 and Seal Team 1. He later served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Special Operations and Counter-terrorism) before retiring as commander of Naval Special Warfare Command. He currently consults with IFG, Ltd. for littoral warfare craft requirements.