US NAVY JUNKS PROBLEM-RIDDEN LITTORAL COMBAT SHIP FLEET

The US Navy is at the start of a process to dump the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) fleet and replace it with heavily armed frigates based on the highly successful FREMM system developed by France and Italy, Stephen Bryen wrote for Asia Times on July 18, 2020.

Even before a decision was reached to scrap the LCS, its deficiencies were on parade for all to see. Billed as an “urban street fighter” naval ship, it was anything but that. Lightly armed with an unproven and problematic 57mm Swedish gun manufactured by Bofors, the only other foreign deployment was in Mexico’s Navy.

There the gun proved incapable of firing for more than seven seconds and required 10 or more minutes to cool down before it could fire again. Most of the world’s navies have opted for the robust Oto Melara (now incorporated into Leonardo SpA) 76mm compact or super rapid gun system. That gun system can now be used with the Italian Navy’s DART to shoot down incoming naval sea-skimming missiles.

FREMM is a very heavily armed powerhouse. The Italian version, called the Bergamini class, comes either as a multipurpose platform or as an optimized anti-submarine warfare frigate. It isn’t clear if the US Navy will have two different types of FFG(X) or if it will opt to use some of the plug and play modules adapted to the LCS for FFG(X).