Littoral Combat Ships (LCS)
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
Brumby
Major
The difference in cost is explained from the article that you took from - just above.comes from
dated July 16, 2015 so why am I posting? because based on the above chart, one might naively guess the price in the future to be below 400m, but:
shows almost 600m and "Funding does not include LCS mission modules, which are funded in Other Procurement, Navy (OPN)." is the meaning of superscript 2:
It is not uncommon that equipment accounts for 40 to 50 % of the cost besides the hull. If I remember correctly, an Aegis system alone cost $260 million.
Jura The idiot
General
thanks, I admit I missed "Note these figures are for the ship itself and don’t include military equipment, such as weapons, that the government purchases separately, which can add over $100 million" sentence, so ...
... let's say the price of a hull now was approaching 400m, and since the total-without-Mission-Modules would be almost 600m https://www.sinodefenceforum.com/littoral-combat-ships-lcs.t3993/page-134#post-395037
then about one third (200 out of 600) for outfitting could make sense, and wouldn't add to my criticism
of LCSs:https://www.sinodefenceforum.com/plan-type-056-class-opv-corvette.t5339/page-254#post-384911
Jura The idiot
General
I know of
none
What modules are operationnals right now
and noneand any date for others ?
Brumby
Major
thanks, I admit I missed "Note these figures are for the ship itself and don’t include military equipment, such as weapons, that the government purchases separately, which can add over $100 million" sentence, so ...
... let's say the price of a hull now was approaching 400m, and since the total-without-Mission-Modules would be almost 600m https://www.sinodefenceforum.com/littoral-combat-ships-lcs.t3993/page-134#post-395037
then about one third (200 out of 600) for outfitting could make sense, and wouldn't add to my criticism
https://www.sinodefenceforum.com/plan-type-056-class-opv-corvette.t5339/page-254#post-384911
As the saying goes "You get what you pay for". Given that the hull cost around $360 million, double that would be around $720 million and this represents a 50/50 split. We know there is a lot of criticism around the LCS as being under armed at $600 million. If we add another $100 million of capability that might actually make a difference.
Jura The idiot
General
I can't understand why this hadn't been happening since the beginning, which would've been many years ago now: why not throw in 3b more (over the years) to get Warships (not LCSs), I mean what's 3b in like twenty USN budgets EDIT now I quickly found about USN budgets in the near future:
2017 is: 138.9 (almost 140b)
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Brumby
Major
The USN did not set out to build a Frigate out of the LCS from the onset. The goal was to build an affordable, self-deployable and reconfigurable multirole warship. The problem is that to day, the LCS is not really affordable (vs original goal); it is not really self deployable (except in permissive environment); and neither is it easily reconfigurable (weeks vs days). Below is an excerpt of an article written by Robert Work on the LCS program which lays out the comparative cost of a Frigate type vessel based on different configuration assumption.
The USN has now shifted back to a more traditional view of small surface combatant in the form of a Frigate like vessel and that would probably mean a $700 to $750 million range.
Jura The idiot
General
you didn't post a link so I did a google search and my top-three hits are (I reversed their ordering to see them from oldest to newest) are rather interesting (don't seem to contain your document, though):
- 2004: should link the PDF "2004.02.18-Littoral-Combat-Ship.pdf"
- 2014: McCain Grills Bob Work Over LCS Program in Tuesday Nomination Hearing
- 2015: "The Littoral Combat Ship: How We Got Here, and Why" PDF:
Brumby
Major
It is number 3. Highly recommended read if you want to understand the origin of the LCS and the thinking behind it
Brumby
Major
I recently shared portions of an article that featured the radar AN/SPS-75/77 that are installed on the LCS.
https://www.sinodefenceforum.com/littoral-combat-ships-lcs.t3993/page-134
A just released CRS report dated 5/4/2016 (page 28) mentioned that the PRA modelling on the LCS cannot be conducted because the USN do not hold the IP rights to the radar that they installed.
I just can't make out from these events whether the USN is incompetent or it is just dragging its feet.
https://www.sinodefenceforum.com/littoral-combat-ships-lcs.t3993/page-134
A just released CRS report dated 5/4/2016 (page 28) mentioned that the PRA modelling on the LCS cannot be conducted because the USN do not hold the IP rights to the radar that they installed.
I just can't make out from these events whether the USN is incompetent or it is just dragging its feet.