By Edward Lundquist
The U.S. Navy has two different
Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) seaframes
currently under construction, while con-
currently assembling the combat sys-
tems packages. Unlike multi-mission
combatants, the focused-mission LCS
will feature reconfigurable, modular
mission packages to counter access-
denial threats - mines, submarines or
small, fast attack boats - in the littoral.
The first mission packages for mine
warfare are now being assembled and
tested at the Naval Surface Warfare
Center in Panama City, Fla.
"We're bringing a large number of
individual systems primarily focused on
unmanned platforms - unmanned under-
water vehicles, unmanned surface vehi-
cles, [and] unmanned air vehicles - in
which we've integrated sensors and
weapon systems. And we have put them
together in a modularized fashion to put
into the mission bays of the seaframe,"
says Capt. Walt Wright, program man-
ager for LCS Mission Modules,
Program Executive Officer for Littoral
and Mine Warfare.
Lockheed Martin is building LCS 1,
named Freedom, a semi-planing mono-
hull design at Marinette Marine in
Marinette, Wisc. General Dynamics is
building LCS 2, named Independence, a
trimaran at Austal USA in Mobile, Ala.
Each ship, which will be more than
4,000 tons loaded, will have a core crew
of just 40 people, and each mission
package will bring a crew of 15 people.
A mission package includes the systems,
modules and crew. There will also be an
aviation detachment of 20 people for a
total of 75 crew per ship.
NSWC Panama City is designing,
developing and integrating the modules
for the mine warfare (MIW) mission
package. The antisubmarine warfare
(ASW) package is being created by
Space and Naval Warfare Systems
Command (SPAWAR) San Diego and
Naval Undersea Systems Center
Newport, R.I. The surface warfare
(SUW) mission package is being devel-
oped by Naval Surface Warfare Center
Dahlgren, Va.
There are significant challenges inte-
grating the components of a combat sys-
tem with any new ship. With LCS, the
challenge is multiplied because there are
essentially three different interchange-
able mission packages, two different
combat systems, and two different
seaframes.
"We are creating the first of the three
mission packages for LCS," said Jose
Velez, a systems engineer and the LCS
customer advocate at NSWC Panama
City. Velez said NSWC Panama City is
also the certifying authority for all of the
mission packages. "We certify that the
mission packages are ready. We check
the interfaces, validate the communica-
tions and verify everything works the
way it's supposed to and that they are
ready for fleet use."
The seaframe has the basic combat
management system (CMS) with the
computing environment and post mis-
sion analysis tools for each of the mis-
sion packages. The mission packages
can be changed quickly to give the ship
a different mission. Each of the two
ship designs, while very different, had to
meet requirements for weight, volume,
power, storage, and physical and com-
puter interfaces, along with speed, draft
and inherent self-defense capabilities.
The modules can be placed on either
seaframe design.
"A mission specialist would be able to
operate his or her systems the same way
with either ship," Velez said.
The mission packages are modularized
20-ft. ISO-compatible shipping contain-
ers made by Sea Box, Inc. The contain-
ers are standard size, but strengthened
for naval use, with Tyco Unistrut fasten-
ing systems installed to secure the
equipment to the deck, overhead and
bulkhead, according Jeff Mott, project
engineer for the MIW support contain-
ers development.
The containers have lighting and
power receptacles, with interfaces for
power (115 VAC, 44VAC and 28VDC)
and communications mounted outside
the box. They are equipped with white
and red lighting (for night vision), han-
dling equipment and diagnostic comput-
ers, smoke alarms, fire extinguishers,
and phones. Some containers have air
conditioning or nitrogen charging equip-
ment.
Mine Warfare Mission Modules
The LCS configured for mine warfare
can sprint to an area of concern, then
deploy offboard systems to look for
mines. Its volume search sonars can
search a large volume of water to find
objects of interest, then it can go back
and investigate mine-like objects using
Electro-optical identification (EOID)
sensors.
LCS carries a helicopter which can
employ the AN/AES-1 Airborne Laser
Mine Detection System (ALMDS), built
by Northrop Grumman Corp. Airborne
Ground Surveillance and Battle
Management Systems, Melbourne, Fla.,
a high-area coverage system that
detects, classifies, and localizes floating
and near-surface moored sea mines
using a blue-green laser.
The LCS MIW mission package will
have one container that carries four
Raytheon AQS-20 variable depth mine-
22 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News
Shipbuilding Technology
Combat Capability in a Container
Engineers work on a Remote
Minehunting System in its
holding bay on board the
Navy's newest guided missile
destroyer USS Momsen (DDG
92). Momsen is the first Navy
Ship to utilize a working RMS
on board. RMS will provide the
Strike Group Commander the
first ever off-board mine
reconnaissance capability
from a surface combatant.
(U.S. Navy photo)
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