The Littoral Combat Ship, designed for operations in shallow coastal waters, is made in two versions by Lockheed Martin Corp. and Austal Ltd. Source: U.S. Navy Photo
* Fast-attack small boats like Iran's enter `keep-out' zone
* Pentagon's testing chief also discloses more reliability flaws
The U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship struggled in drills at sea to fend off a swarm of small attacking vessels like the Iranian boats it could encounter in the Persian Gulf, according to the Pentagon’s chief weapons tester.
The fast-attack boats were ultimately defeated by the USS Coronado during three mock engagements in August and September to test its guns and targeting gear. But in two exercises an attacker came too close, penetrating the vessel’s “keep-out” zone, Pentagon testing director Michael Gilmore said in his annual report on major weapons submitted to congressional defense committees.
While Gilmore didn’t mention Iran as a threat, its Islamic Revolutionary Guards operate small boats with crews trained for swarming attacks in the contested waters of the Persian Gulf. The Coronado’s “inability to defeat this relative modest threat beyond ‘keep-out’ range routinely under test conditions raises questions about its ability to deal with more challenging threats,” Gilmore added.
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WNU Editor: The U.S. Air Force has the F-35 (and its problems) .... and the U.S. Navy has the Littoral Combat Ship (and its problems).
2 comments:
The LCS comes in two models, Freedom series (monohull) and Independence series (trimaran). These tests were done with the latter. And though the first ship was accepted by Navy six years ago, it still has no proper armament and its modules (anti-sub, -surface, and -mine) are not available, plus in these test the ship was unreliable.
The F-35 not only is with the AF but also Marines, and planned for Navy. It's a hot topic right now, with a new test report out with bad news. There are a lot of writers finally getting on it.
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