The Navy's $440 Million Do-It-All Warship Gets Two Big Life-Saving Escorts [PHOTOS]

[xchrom]

http://www.businessinsider.com/lcs-uss-independence-gets-new-bigger-drone-and-mine-hunter-escorts-2013-3?op=1



Among a host of features the Navy's new Littoral Combat Ship planned to provide is the ability to launch and receive a modest tactical drone like the ScanEagle.

But now, even as the LCS-class ship struggles to meet expectations DARPA is calling to beef up the Independence-class LCS drone capability to host a 27 foot wingspan Predator-like UAV.

The new TERN program calls for a drone that can be ship-launched, and recovered, while also able to carry a 600 pound payload up to a 900 mile radius from the ship.

The new drone assignment is in addition to LCS's new robotic surface based mine hunter called the Unmanned Influence Sweep System.


In addition to a normal compliment of weapons and sensors, the LCSnow has this remote surface mine detector assigned to it as well


The foredeck has a modular weapons zone that will hold a 57 mm gun turret or missile launcher


Independence has an Interior Communications Center that can be curtained off from the rest of bridge

[leveymg]

1. Wow, what a bargain! for $440 million, it includes curtains!

Even has space for a small helicopter and a little boat. That's totally unique!

[xchrom]

4. !

[ret5hd]

2. Just curious...

re: that last picture. What's the purpose of curtaining off that area from the rest of the bridge?

[HereSince1628]

3. My guess would be potential light pollution of the forward stations on the bridge.

Maybe this is a fail-safe if red lights don't work?

[jsr]

5. It needs an invisibility cloak

and a hot tub

[A HERETIC I AM]

13. "If it doesn't have a casino and a buffet...

it isn't seaworthy." - John Pinette

[Robb]

6. That man is playing Galaga.

[maxrandb]

7. Read up on the LCS...it's a piece of crap!

http://www.naval-technology.com/features/feature2184/

Once showcased as the future of naval shipbuilding and warship design, the LCS project has more than doubled in cost and time. Moreover, the prototypes haven't even been fully tested by the competing manufacturers – General Dynamics (GD) and Lockheed Martin (LockMart), let alone the navy.

The navy implemented the suspension by cancelling the development contracts for LCS-3 and LCS-4, which were to be built by LockMart and GD respectively.

The LockMart LCS team technically launched the Freedom from Marinette Marine's Wisconsin shipyard in September 2006, but the ship was really just a shell. The Freedom's engines weren't actually fired up until March 2008, and the entire propulsion system completed testing on 10 July. The Independence, which was started later, did not hit the water until 28 April.

Both contractors expect to have prototypes ready for sea trials late this year. By that time, the total average unit cost of the prototyping phase could climb above $600m – almost triple the initial estimate of $220m a ship.
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[Egalitarian Thug]

8. Yes, but it's a huge corporate welfare piece of crap bursting with pork filling!

Mmmm, good for Amurka, FUCK YEAH!

[maxrandb]

9. The LCS is finally starting to get on track, but it's been a fucking boondoggle of ineptitude

For example, they found that they had severe corrosion problems with the aluminum hull where they welded two different types of metal.

I'm not an alchemist, but I know that you can join disparate metals...HOWEVER...when you add saltwater to the equation...

Who could have imagined that the hull of a Navy ship migth someday come in contact with saltwater?

[Ikonoklast]

11. "Electrolysis between dissimilar metals? What?"

"What is this 'galvanic corrosion' you speak of and why does it get worse in the presence of an electrolyte?"

I remember they were talking of scrapping one entire hull.

[Posteritatis]

12. That one still floors me.

I've got two humanity degrees and would still be able to tell them that was a Bad Idea, and it's not like the United States Navy has a shortage of experience with metalworking. I mean, the hell?

[maxrandb]

14. It's called galvanic corrosion

Story below:

In contrast to the first LCS, the steel-hulled USS Freedom, Independence is made mostly of aluminum. And that’s one root of the ship’s ailment.

Corrosion is a $23-billion-a-year problem in the equipment-heavy U.S. military. But Independence‘s decay isn’t a case of mere oxidation, which can usually be prevented by careful maintenance and cleaning. No, the 418-foot-long warship is dissolving due to one whopper of a design flaw.

There are technical terms for this kind of disintegration. Austal USA, Independence‘s Alabama-based builder, calls it “galvanic corrosion.” Civilian scientists know it as “electrolysis.” It’s what occurs when “two dissimilar metals, after being in electrical contact with one another, corrode at different rates,” Austal explained in a statement.

[Mnpaul]

15. A design flaw

That most car companies overcame in the 70's.

[L0oniX]

10. How many people does it feed?

[apocalypsehow]

16. A colleague has a son who is a Navy officer, and he told us that there is much USAF drone-envy

in the upper ranks of the Navy. That they seem to grab a lot of the "sexy" headlines that, say, the F-14 Tomcat did years ago after Top Gun came out, or the Navy Seals did after Osama Bin Laden's assassination.

Don't know how much of the program highlighted in the OP stems from "drone-envy," but found it interesting that after hearing my friend's son talk specifically about "drone-envy" they talk about adding drones to a naval combat vessel in this article.