Editorial: The case to keep LCS

[unhappycamper]

Editorial: The case to keep LCS

The hot topics for armchair admirals are whether the Navy should adopt the Coast Guard’s National Security Cutter instead of its planned Littoral Combat Ship and whether it should trade the DDG 1000-class destroyer for more DDG 51 destroyers.

Such questions are reasonable. The Navy is struggling to pay for the ships it wants, but neither choice solves its problems.

Regardless of whether the cutters Northrop Grumman is building for the Coast Guard have naval applications, the Navy must stick with its LCS program, or what’s left of it, instead of changing horses.

The Navy is planning sea trials this year of Lockheed Martin’s first LCS, Freedom, and General Dynamics’ Independence. While both are over budget, due in part to the Navy’s myriad design changes, Lockheed’s monohull and GD’s trimaran combine critical attributes for an uncertain future.

They can speed at 45 knots to capture pirates for interrogation or during combatant maneuvers, cruise for 8,000 miles at 10 knots, and accommodate mission modules for surface or anti-submarine warfare and countermine operations that promise unprecedented flexibility.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/community/opinion/navy_editorial_lcs_080211/



uhc comment: The price of an LCS went from $220,000,000 (2004 dollars) to over $600,000,000 in 2008 dollars --> http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=259&topic_id=10960