Lockheed Offers Frigate Derived from USS Freedom class LCS (Corvette)

Lockheed Martin is offering the Navy a slightly heavier, technologically re-configured multi-warfare variant of the Littoral Combat Ship that has added survivability features such as built in vertical launch tubes and a stronger radar.

It is part of Lockheed’s submission to the Navy’s Small Surface Combatant Task Force’s, or SSCTF, solicitation asking industry to come up with specs and designs for a new multi-mission surface ship engineered to address and correct some of the problems with the LCS.

Lockheed’s offering, which is based on their international variant of the LCS, is designed to engineer certain technologies into the hull itself, such as sonar. This approach is intended to prevent the need to swap out “mission packages” or sets of technologies as is currently the case with the LCS.

“We took the 118-meter hull and turned it into more of a multi-warfare platform. Multi-warfare means you have anti-submarine warfare capability built into the hull along with surface and anti-air capability,” said Joe North, vice president of Littoral Ship Systems, Lockheed Martin. “It is basically putting everything in the hull that allows you to not have to swap out mission packages – and perform those missions with a single ship.”

The new ship design weighs 3,600 tons which is slightly more than the current LCS weight of 3,400 tons, North said.

Other technological adaptations include the use of a sophisticated anti-air radar than the one used by the LCS that allows for greater distance with air coverage, North added.

“You basically would integrate the radar with guns that you have on the ship, whether that be a 57mm or 76mm gun. You would put in a vertical launch capability which allows it to bring aboard missiles and address threats from over the horizon and for ASW (anti-submarine warfare) you would add sonar to the ship,” he explained.

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1.  I think this sucker is going to be considerably heavier than 400 tons more.

2.  If the navy accepts anything less than 32 VLS cells on the LCS deriv frigate, then they ought to get slapped upside the head.  It would be better if the LCS+ had 40 to 48 cells: minimum of 8 ASROC, 16 SM, 8 ASM, and 32 EESM as a probable loadout for 40 cells and add 8 ASM if 48 cells.

3.  For that matter, they had better drop in a towed sonar array, too.

4.  Torpedo launcher.

5.  Provisioning for advanced upgrades like lasers and railguns since they are getting close to deployment. 

6.  Consider the Aegis F variant, but that would work better with the Independence class.