Lockheed Martin’s [LMT] offering to the Navy for the follow-on Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) to meet the small surface combatant requirement could remove one of two MH-60 helicopters currently meant to operate off the ship to make room for a vertical launch system, a company executive said June 9.
The Lockheed Martin variant of the LCS known as the Freedom does not have a vertical launch system for firing missiles. As part of the Navy’s review of the LCS program, the company responded to an April request for information (RFI) that included the option of adding anywhere from four to 32 launch cells to the ship to increase firepower.
Joe North, the vice president of Lockheed Martin littoral ship systems, told reporters that if all 32 cells are added to the aft portion of the ship, it would require the subtraction of one of the helicopters for performing anti-submarine and anti-sea mine missions. He added, however, that shifting at least eight cells to the front end would allow the Navy to keep both helicopters on the vessel.
The scenarios apply if the Navy sticks with the Freedom hull at its current length of 118 meters, but North pointed out that Lockheed Martin also presented the Navy with the option of lengthening the mono-hulled Freedom variant.
The Navy on April 30 asked companies to submit ideas for a small surface combatant follow-on to LCS after Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s decision to reduce the LCS buys from the planned 52 to 32. Hagel questioned the survivability and lethality of the ship-class and instructed the Navy to examine alternatives to meet the small warship requirement.
Hagel’s directive also applied to the trimaran Independence variant built by Austal USA, which along with Lockheed Martin and other companies replied in late May to the Navy’s two RFIs. Austal USA proposed a host of ways to increase the firepower on the vessel, including a vertical launch capability as well.
Both companies have been contracted to deliver a combined 24 ships, evenly split between the two variants.
The Navy has set up a task force that is due to reach a recommendation for the small surface combatant by July 31, and sought input from throughout the industry through the RFIs. General Dynamics [GD] , Huntington Ingalls Industries [HII] and Raytheon [RTN] were among the other companies that submitted ideas for either hull designs or combat systems-or both.