May 8,2008:
The surface warfare module for the
U.S. Navy's new LCS (Littoral Combat Ships) will contain an unusual collection
of weapons. The only familiar item will be a MH-60R (a navalized Blackhawk)
helicopter, armed with a 12.7mm machine-gun and Hellfire missiles (with a range
of 8 kilometers). There will be three other aircraft, all RQ-8A Fire Scout
UAVs. Each of these is a 1.5 ton unmanned helicopter, that will be armed with
70mm laser guided DAGR missiles. These 25 pound missiles have a range of six
kilometers. There will be two 23 foot long Spartan USVs (unmanned surface
vehicles), each armed with a 30mm auto cannon and a Javelin anti-tank missile
(range of 2.5 kilometers). The 30mm cannon has about the same range, and both
it and the Javelin are there to destroy small patrol boats, or any other
hostile craft. The USV will also carry a net for fouling the propeller of ships
and boats. This use of UAVs and USVs for surface warfare is new, and tactics
and operating procedures have to be worked out.
Most of
the firepower, however, comes in four metal canisters filled with a new U.S.
Army missile system called NetFires (or
NLOS-LS). This is still in development. This weapon is actually two different
missiles, identical in weight and size, but different in how they operate. The
LCS is using PAM (Precision Attack Missile). This is a 178mm diameter missile
that weighs 120 pounds, and has a range of 40 kilometers. PAM attacks from above,
with a 28 pound warhead. This enables it to destroy boats, and damage larger
ships. PAMs are vertically-launched from what looks like a 4x6x4 foot (wide x
deep x high) cargo container. Actually, it IS a cargo container. The missiles
are shipped from the factory in this sealed container. Each one ton container
holds 15 missiles and can be carried on the back of a truck, or a ship. Once
you plug a PAM container into the wireless battlefield Internet, the missiles
are ready to fire. the fire control
officer on the LCS sends one or more PAMs against any enemy target that
shows up on their screen (usually a larger flat screen.) The battlefield
Internet is using aircraft, UAVs, satellites and ground sensors to pick up
targets for LCS. When the fire control officer sees a target he wants to kill,
a point and click will send the coordinates of the target to a PAM container on board, launch a PAM to the
approximate location where the missiles own sensor will pick up the target and
home in on it. The sensors will, most of the time, pick up the vehicle as
destroyed and adjust the fire control officers screen accordingly.
The LCS
features a number of major innovations. For one thing, it is highly automated,
and has a crew of less than fifty. The LCS has a large cargo hold that can be
quickly fitted with gear to turn it into a mine clearing ship, a surface
warfare support ship, a submarine hunter, or just about anything
(anti-aircraft, commando support, or even command and control.) The development
of the LCS has been screwed up, with resulting delays and cost overruns. The
same grief is expected in the development of the specialized modules.
