The main type of ships of the US Navy, designed for operations in the near sea zone, are currently the frigates of the Oliver Hazard Perry project. The lead ship of the series was commissioned back in 1977 and it is easy to calculate how much time has passed since then. Obviously, these frigates should be replaced with something new in the very near future. The American command, realizing this, back in the late nineties launched the LCS program (Littoral Combat Ship - Coastal Combat Ship). It was originally planned that about 60 ships of the LCS class will be able to completely replace the existing frigates "Oliver Hazard Perry" and even take over part of the duties of the minesweepers of the Avenger project. The development and construction of new ships almost did not differ from other similar programs, with the difference that, following the results of the preliminary design competition, it was decided to build two LCS variants at once. One was developed by Lockheed Martin, the other by General Dynamics. The lead ships of both projects were named LCS-1 and LCS-2, respectively.
USS Independence (LCS-2)
Both of the first ships built under the LCS program entered service with the US Navy in 2008 and 2010 under the names USS Freedom (LCS-1) and USS Independence (LCS-2). Even before the commissioning of the first two ships, there were several changes in the LCS program, but all of them concerned more of the administrative and economic part. So, initially the Pentagon intended to order Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics for one more ship of their projects, but later it was decided to conduct comparative tests and, based on their results, choose the best ship. The firm that developed it would receive a contract for two LCS, the losing side for one. As a result of the comparison, LCS-1 was recognized as the best and, as a result, in the very near future, Lockheed Martin received very lucrative contracts. How the construction of the next ships out of the required six dozen will be distributed is still unknown.
However, against the background of speculation and analytics on the topic “who will build the fifth, sixth, etc. ships? there is one very remarkable piece of news that may add another unexpected twist to the history of the LCS program. The fact is that on April 23, a report by the non-profit organization Project On Government Oversight (POGO) was published, from which a lot of interesting things can be learned about the LCS program. First of all, the report-letter was addressed to those representatives of the House of Representatives who are employed in the defense committee of the latter, but also to other politicians, and even ordinary people, the data from the letter will undoubtedly be of interest.
The first point that the POGO employees did not like was the financial side of the LCS program. One ship from "Lockheed Martin" costs the budget (according to the project) in 357 million dollars. The ship from General Dynamics costs a little less - 346 million. Moreover, these are only calculated figures. According to unofficial data, just before the introduction of the ships into the US Navy, about half a billion was spent on each of them. Of course, such "joys", according to the experts of the State Supervision Project, the country does not need. Rather, a coastal ship is needed, but not at such a price. To solve financial problems, POGO proposes to again compare the projects of Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics in order to choose the really best one and in the future build new ships exclusively in accordance with it. Accordingly, the unique for the United States method of the so-called "double development" in POGO is considered nothing more than a whim of responsible persons who do not want or cannot predict the economic consequences of such a step.
It seems that the experts of the State Oversight Project really understand what they are writing about. And it's not just about the economy. In the same report-letter there is amusing information about one of the participants in the LCS program. According to POGO experts, they thoroughly studied not only contracts and invoices for LCS, but also studied the technical documentation of the LCS-1 and LCS-2 projects, their test reports and many other papers. As a result of this "investigation", they came to a disappointing conclusion: the experts have almost no questions about which version of the Littoral Combat Ship should go to the archive marked "expensive and useless." On the development of General Dynamics (LCS-2), POGO has a number of issues, however, according to engineers and the military, all of them can be resolved in a short time and with small forces. But the situation with the LCS-1 already now gives almost no reason to doubt its hopelessness.
USS Freedom (LCS-1)
Firstly, the ship from Lockheed Martin is insignificantly, but more expensive. Of course, the estimated 11 million in the scale of military shipbuilding is not such a big figure. But if we multiply them by the required 60 ships, it turns out that the fleet on this "small" amount on the scale of the entire series will lose the cost of almost two of the same ships. It is noteworthy that the loss of $ 600 million only on the difference in the cost of ships relates to the estimated prices: 357 million for the LCS-1 and 346 million for the LCS-2. And if we take the rumor as an axiom, according to which only until 2010 USS Freedom and USS Independence “ate” half a billion, then the losses in the entire series become simply indecent. Taxpayers are unlikely to be happy about this, especially in light of the fact that the design (!) Combat qualities of the LCS-1 and LCS-2 practically do not differ from each other.
Secondly, LCS-1, according to speakers from POGO, even three and a half years after commissioning, cannot perform all the functions assigned to it. There are a lot of problems with electronic equipment, weapons, power plant, etc. As a result, during the first thousand days of service (from autumn 2008 to summer 2011), USS Freedom "picked up" 640 technical problems. Some of them, it must be admitted, were quickly corrected by the crew, but the rest required more serious repairs in dock conditions. In other words, every one and a half or two days something broke on the ship. The most egregious incident occurred in March 2010. Then, due to the fault of technology, the main power supply system of the ship was completely turned off for several hours, and it was possible to start the backup only after some time. Thus, for several hours one of the most modern US NAVY ships was a "trough" drifting on the waves, capable of repelling the enemy with only the crew's personal weapons. But this is not only a technical problem - it is also, to some extent, a disgrace for a warship. During the same trip, when the electrical system was temporarily disconnected, there were several engine breakdowns. Fortunately, they did not have the same dire consequences as that drift, but the repairmen had to suffer in the end.
Finally, according to POGO experts, the LCS-1, in its current state, simply cannot achieve its design performance. During last year's summer repairs, 17 relatively large cracks were found in the ship's hull. All the necessary work was carried out with them, thanks to which the damage should not increase in the future. Nevertheless, even in the absence of progression in size, these cracks significantly impair the ship's performance. So, at the moment, according to third-party experts, LCS-1 will not be able to accelerate to speeds above 40 knots, without risking new damage. At the same time, there is no information about the possibility of new cracks in the case and the reasons for this. It is characteristic that all these cracks reduce not only the speed. They also "hit" the range, albeit slightly. The vortices they form in the water slightly increase the resistance of the medium, as a result of which more fuel consumption is required to achieve a certain speed. Both variants of the ships of the LCS program have a power plant consisting of diesel and gas turbine engines, so it is necessary to economically use fuel in accordance with the cruise plan.
After listing all the unpleasant facts related to the LCS program, the POGO report made three equally unpleasant conclusions that follow from the situation. The first of these concerns the organization of the case. According to the staff of the State Oversight Project, the Pentagon made a big mistake by starting a "double development". Contrary to all expectations, this approach did not lead to a significant increase in the technical or combat qualities of the ships being created. In addition, it was not possible to avoid the "traditional" problems for the creation of new technology, such as the high cost of work or the long time required to complete the program. The second conclusion directly follows from the first and also concerns the mistakes of the American military department. Its essence is as follows: the commissioning of new ships, as well as other military equipment, until the moment when it is brought to mind, not only does not increase the defense potential of the fleet / army / air force, but even reduces it to some extent. Also, such steps significantly hit the prestige of the Pentagon and the entire United States along with it. It is not hard to guess how all those people from different countries who dislike the United States will react to the news about the problems of the LCS program - they will definitely be pleased with these news.
Having finished with the "merits" of the Pentagon, POGO switched to the actual LCS program. In their opinion, as follows from the first conclusion, it is necessary to reduce the costs of the program and leave only one project of a promising ship, on which all efforts will be concentrated. Otherwise, the US may spend even more money and not get the desired result. First, the House of Representatives should have its say on this matter. Further, the question of the fate of the LCS program will be raised before the Senate. In case both houses of Congress are unable to decide what to do with the LCS and which ship to leave of the two, POGO proposes to simply determine the period within which the Pentagon employees will have to make their choice. This scheme has already been repeatedly used in the creation of new military equipment, so it can be used now, to determine the fate of the ships of the coastal zone.
So far, one can only guess about the Pentagon's reaction to the report of the POGO experts. It is unlikely that it will be purely positive, because about four billion dollars have already been spent on the LCS program, which were distributed approximately equally between Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics. The closure of one of the projects means the loss of two billion, which, against the background of constant statements about cutting costs, will look very bad and at the same time will become another reason for offensive jokes towards the American military. However, the Pentagon will have to make a choice. This development of events is supported by the fact that congressmen have recently given priority to the financial side of projects, rather than the desires of the military. So both chambers of Congress may well heed POGO's proposals and close the LCS-1 project, or require the military to do it on their own. One way or another, at the moment the future of the LCS program looks pretty clear, but far from cloudless. With a high degree of probability, it can be assumed that POGO and Congress will still push through cutting costs for it, and one of the projects is destined to receive an extremely unpleasant label “expensive and useless”.
