gauntlet thrown at LCS

Retired Admiral James Lyons calls out the LCS:

The overall costs of the LCS are largely driven by the speed requirement of 50 knots. It can be safely assumed that between 30 percent and 40 percent of the current hull, mechanical and electrical (HM&E) costs are directly attributed to the speed requirement. It is not transparently clear what a 50 knot capability (as opposed to 30 knots) confers in the threat today of Mach 1-plus air and surface launched guided-stealthy missiles plus 70-plus-knot torpedoes. Furthermore, in any type of seaway, the ship will not operate at 50 knots nor will it operate at 50 knots in 20 feet of water unless the intention is to dig a trench in the seabed.

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The Norwegian Aegis frigate, which is a derivative of the Spanish F-100 Aegis frigate, is a candidate that should receive careful consideration. It has a speed of 28 knots; is stealthy and is capable in terms of area AAW and ASW with its Aegis combat system, electro-optical director; hull mounted and towed array sonar, two MK82 fire-control radars, and 127MM and 76MM guns. It also has the capability to host organic manned and unmanned air and surface vehicles. The cost for this very capable warship is about $600 million. Its draft is 5 meters, which also compares favorably with the LCS.

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There is no question that numbers of ship matter, but combat capability and survivability should be the governing criteria. The notion that somehow "little" combatants are expendable is nonsense. Certainly the crews are not, nor are the ships. Unfortunately, we don't have the luxury of time to redesign a small combatant. Until we do, we should embrace the European-Norwegian Aegis-type Frigate, which was principally designed for "littoral combat."

CDRSalamander and Galrahn weigh in. Galrahn says it best:

LCS was never intended to be a stand alone ship. Originally, the LCS was intended to be part of a larger networked approach to the littoral battlespace and the unmanned systems carried by LCS were intended to enable scouting in that network. The DDG-1000 and LCS were intended to operate together, enabling the others weakness. [...] The total littoral network concept was sound at a high level, questionable in implementation with DDG-1000 but still viable, but now that half the network was removed from the concept when the DDG-1000 was cut the current plan isn't a network, rather it has become a single node.

LCS and DDG-1000 are the FCS of the sea. The bottom line is that you can get your network paradigm without fancy new hulls. Period.