Director of Surface Warfare Calls for Navy to Back LCS

In comments at the annual Surface Navy Association symposium, U.S. Navy Director of Surface Warfare RAdm. Peter Fanta called on members of the Navy to join together to back the service's new Littoral Combat Ship and to “sell the story” of its capabilities.

“In the long run, you've got to help me get the message out, there's warfighting capability in this thing, and it's overwhelming even our own submarines and surface ships,” he said, referring to the class' performance against other U.S. Navy assets in exercises.

The LCS program has attracted controversy with questions related to survivability, engine trouble and issues related to the vessels' modular weapons systems, which are designed to be swapped for different missions.

Rear Admiral Fanta addressed the debate and suggested that it was not unusual for a new vessel type. "The [LCS is] not perfectly tested. I've got it, it's not perfect . . . It's like every other ship we've had," he said, adding that bureaucratic inertia was partly responsible for continued opposition to the new ships.

The Navy contracts for two versions of the ship: the Freedom class, built by Lockheed Martin and the aluminum hull trimaran Independence class built by Austal USA / General Dynamics.

LCS vessels built after 2019 will be redesignated as “fast frigates” and will be uparmored and fitted with additional weaponry as part of the Navy's “distributed lethality” concept.

In an interview with USNI News last week, Rear Admiral Fanta said that adding an over-the-horizon anti-ship missile was an “absolute requirement” for the Navy in its LCS program, and that he hoped to have a working deployment by the end of the year – contingent on engineering and missile selection.

Schematic of proposed “fast frigate” upgrades (courtesy U.S. Navy)

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter recently issued a memo calling for the reduction in total acquisition of the LCS ships (including fast frigates) from a total of 52 to 40 vessels, suggesting that the total surface fleet goal of about 300 ships should not be “irresponsibly exceeded.” He also called for the selection of one of the two LCS designs in order to focus resources.

Separately, media reports Thursday said that a letter to Congress by the Defense Department's director of operational testing suggests the entire class of the Navy's Expeditionary Fast Transports will need bow reinforcements due to insufficient strength in high seas. “The entire ship class requires reinforcing structure,” the letter said.