Everything happened in a matter of moments. A second ago, a normal refueling operation was in full swing. And in the next moment, the team of the landing ship USS Cole struggled to keep the missile cruiser afloat. These events turned into a tragedy for the families and friends of the 17 lost sailors.
Actually, the port of Aden, in Yemen, was considered friendly territory. The explosion was a lesson for all naval sailors: modern warships are as defenseless to suicide bombers as overcrowded buses in Israel. But the real horror among the admirals was caused not by the thought of a repeated attack by a lone, but by the possibility that the ship would be attacked, like a flock of killer bees, by many small boats at once. And that during the confusion that arose, someone would fire an anti-ship missile at an aircraft carrier. The missile will almost certainly be shot down by the ship's defense system. But in the world of international terrorism, where all concepts are inverted, the very fact that someone managed to almost knock out the "regalia" of the US Navy will be perceived as a stunning victory for Al-Qaeda.
The report, which the Navy released after the attack, describes the new threat to US naval power: “The current situation in the world forces us to act in the zone of vital interests of tough, unyielding fanatics. They are not happy with us. They want us to keep our distance - the further the better. To what extent will we be able to influence events on land and at sea, wherever we want, if we are forced to keep our distance, if for any action we have to overcome the distance?"
Soon the sailors came to the conclusion that they already had a preliminary design of the ship, quite suitable for countering the threat posed by international terrorists. The Navy calls it the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). According to a spokesman for the Naval Weapons Development Center (NWDC), such ships became part of the Navy's concept back in 1999.
Such ships can be used both for information operations and for sweeping mines, actions against submarines or support for special operations. The military characteristics of the future ship made a strong impression.
The LCS idea received an impetus towards becoming a real ship thanks to its inclusion in a document from the US Department of Defense, which sets the direction for development for 2003-2007. The document provides explicit instructions for the Navy to develop capabilities to counter threats that may come from rogue states and international terrorists. The most important function of the LCS is anti-submarine guarding of aircraft carrier groups and minesweeping. Another related task is the need to improve the fleet's capabilities to destroy or displace a large number of submarines "living" in shallow waters near the coast.
LCS is good for this purpose for several reasons: it is fast and has a shallow draft, and thrives in shallow water. And the fact that the ship can operate from the horizon means that it does not need an escort and security, this frees up other combat units for other purposes. Active torpedo protection technology allows the LCS to play a role similar to that of the destroyer AEGIS in air defense.
Raytheon
To repel attacks from quiet diesel submarines, the LCS can conduct operations with towed or fired anti-torpedoes.
Listening to the fears raised by the Cole story, the Navy wants to be able to destroy groups of cruise missile boats without endangering aircraft carriers.
Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Verne Clarke says that
in the future, the US Navy should dominate the coastal space and provide support to the combined force. The adversary will continue to develop asymmetric countermeasures. And LCS will become a US asymmetric advantage that will allow control of critical areas. And this thing is needed the faster the better.
Choice of design
Last summer, the Pentagon brought closer the moment when such globally coordinated maritime warfare would become a reality. Three companies were selected to carry out a seven-month preliminary development contract under the contract to refine the naval LCS concept. Finalists were General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics and Raytheon-Integrated Defense Systems. Each contract was worth approximately $ 10 million. The winner is waiting for a multi-billion dollar check. The US Navy wants to acquire nine of these ships by 2009. There may be sixty of them in total.
To encourage initiative and freedom of thought, the Pentagon invites designers to define the details of the project themselves. It will take at least another year before the ship specifications are finalized. But it is already clear that whatever project is adopted, it will be a global breakthrough and a departure from the principles of building ships of the past. According to the documents of the Navy, the ship (LCS) will have a shallow draft and special hull shapes and will be able to reach speeds of up to 40-50 knots (70-90 km / h) in shallow water. Lockheed Martin's project is called the Sea Blade. Its main property is a semi-planning hull with a shallow draft. The project team at Raytheon is betting on an all-composite double-hulled catamaran using the latest technology from Goodrich Corp.'s polymer department. The project from General Dynamics is a trimaran similar in design to racing yachts.
Two types of tasks
LCS will be used in two types of transactions - one-time and long-term. On a one-off basis, it will carry different types of modular weapons tailored to the current task, for example, anti-submarine weapons or means of countering small boats. In any case, the ships will operate in groups, as part of the distributed forces. One LCS squadron can conduct anti-submarine combat operations, while the other can detect and classify naval mines. In prolonged operations, ships will be armed lightly and will receive additional weapons only to protect themselves from an imminent threat.
LCS can also be used to deliver personnel and ammunition, to conduct sea interception and conduct information warfare. But despite the fact that they are designed to operate in groups, even one ship will be a formidable force. A single forward-facing LCS is capable of responding quickly in low-risk environments and conducting a wide range of operations, including special mission support, logistics, naval interceptions, non-combat evacuations, and humanitarian and medical missions.
“The teams involved in the development of LCS ships include the best national and foreign minds and expertise and reflect a serious approach to new technology and operational flexibility in naval missions,” said John Young, Assistant Secretary of the US Navy for Research and Development. The Navy will select the LCS project this year. If all goes according to plan, the sailors will receive their radically new ship sometime in 2007.
