The Navy expects to announce later this year that a variant of the Army’s AGM-114L Longbow Hellfire missile configured for launch from littoral combat ships (LCSs) has achieved initial operational capability (IOC). The missile, built by Lockheed Martin, will be integrated with a surface-to-surface mission module, or SSMM, within the LCS surface warfare mission package.
All three LCS mission packages—mine countermeasures and antisubmarine warfare, along with surface warfare—continue to receive upgrades, with Northrop Grumman acting as systems integrator. An LCS mission module consists of the weapons, sensors, and support equipment. A mission package encompasses the mission module plus operator personnel, aircraft, and aviation support crews.
The Navy is fielding two LCS variants: Freedom-class ships, built to a conventional monohulled design, and the Independence class, an innovative trimaran design. The odd-numbered Freedom-class ships are built by Fincantieri Marinette Marine in Marinette, Wisconsin. The Independence class, with even-numbered hulls, are built by Austal USA in Mobile, Alabama.
Once initial operational capability has been achieved, the SSMM will be tested on board the USS Jackson (LCS-6) for integration into the Independence class.
Kevin Knowles, director of strategy and business development for Northrop Grumman’s Mission Systems group, says the surface warfare package is mature and deployable. It includes three mission modules: (1) a gun module built around a Mk 46 Bush-master 30-mm gun; (2) the SSMM; and (3) a maritime security module. The surface warfare package complements the ship’s primary organic surface warfare systems—a Mk 110 57-mm gun, the SeaRAM missile defense system, and an MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned aerial vehicle. The LCS’s surface warfare capability will in future include the Naval Strike Missile as an over-the-horizon weapon system. The Mk 46 gun also is in service on San Antonio-class amphibious assault ships and the three Zumwalt-class destroyers.
Knowles says the SSMM went through initial operational test and evaluation this past winter at the Surface Combat Systems Center in Virginia and that missiles hit their targets with 94-percent accuracy. The Navy will award Northrop Grumman a contract for the module; the missiles are government-furnished equipment.
The mine countermeasures module, which Knowles says is about “halfway” mature, includes an airborne laser mine-detection system, which Northrop Grumman builds; an airborne mine neutralization system; a coastal battlefield reconnaissance and analysis (COBRA) system; an unmanned influence sweep system (UISS); and the Knifefish unmanned underwater vehicle that detects buried mines.
The airborne laser mine-detection system achieved IOC in November 2016. The MH-60S helicopter-based system conducts wide-area surveillance, detection, and classification of mines in shallow waters. Raytheon’s airborne mine-neutralization system consists of launch-and-handling elements and employ neutralizer vehicles (“destructors”) to destroy mines. The BAE Systems destructors transmit sonar and video data through a fiberoptic link to a console on the MH-60S. When a mine is located, the operator on board the helicopter launches an armor-piercing warhead to destroy it.
The COBRA, Knowles says, is a passive sensor mounted in a pod carried by the Fire Scout unmanned helicopter. The system, which achieved IOC in July 2017, can detect mines in shallow areas and surf zones ahead of amphibious operations.
The UISS and Knifefish still are in development by Textron and General Dynamics Mission Systems, respectively. The complete mine countermeasures package is set for full deployment around 2021.
Knowles says the antisubmarine warfare package remains the furthest from operational service. Two key systems now in development are a dipping sonar, to be deployed along with sonobuoys from the MH-60R helicopter, and a variable-depth sonar to be employed off the stern of an LCS.