176-505: The RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile ( RAM ) is a small, lightweight, infrared homing surface-to-air missile in use by the German , Japanese , Greek , Turkish , South Korean , Saudi Arabian , Egyptian , Mexican , UAE , and United States navies. It was originally intended and used primarily as a point-defense weapon against anti-ship missiles . As its name indicates, RAM rolls as it flies. The missile must roll during flight because
352-546: A Senate Armed Services Committee meeting that the Oliver Hazard Perry -class frigates and Avenger -class minesweepers were too worn out to cover the gap if the LCS suffered further delays. Retired Admiral James Lyons , USN called for a $ 220 million common design with the U.S. Coast Guard's National Security Cutter (NSC) program to save costs and meet "limited warfare requirements". A Huntington-Ingalls study found that
528-420: A roll-on/roll-off port facility. Standard armaments include Mk 110 57 mm guns and RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missiles . They are also equipped with autonomous air , surface , and underwater vehicles. Possessing lower air defense and surface warfare capabilities than destroyers , the LCS emphasizes speed, flexible mission modules, and a shallow draft . The first LCS, USS Freedom (LCS-1) ,
704-486: A 3:2:1 manning concept. That is three ship crews, and two hulls for each ship that is on station at any time. The other ship and other two crews who are not on deployment will either be preparing for deployment or in rotation in or out of theater. The result is a 50% reduction in ships and a 25% reduction in crews (and smaller crew sizes) than traditional deployment practices. The ships were predicted to fall short in manning. The Navy has deployed ships with berthing modules in
880-590: A July 1976 agreement with Denmark and West Germany (the General Dynamics missile business was later acquired by Hughes Aircraft and is today part of Raytheon ). Denmark dropped out of the program, but the U.S. Navy joined in as the major partner. The Mk 49 launcher was evaluated on board the destroyer USS David R. Ray in the late 1980s. The first 30 missiles were built in FY 85, and they became operational on 14 November 1992, onboard USS Peleliu . SeaRAM
1056-610: A better weapon than the Falcon: B models managed a 14% kill ratio, while the much longer-ranged D models managed 19%. Its performance and lower cost led the Air Force to adopt it as well. The first heat-seeker built outside the US was the UK's de Havilland Firestreak . Development began as OR.1056 Red Hawk , but this was considered too advanced, and in 1951 an amended concept was released as OR.1117 and given
1232-538: A cable towed behind the boat. Each LCS will carry two, and they will be used for both MCM and ASW. It will mimic the acoustic and magnetic signature of a ship to fool magnetic and influence mines into detonating; introduction is expected in 2017. The final increment will be the Knifefish unmanned underwater vehicle ( UUV ) to find and detect buried mines in 2019. In February 2016, the Navy announced they were halting procurement of
1408-638: A contractual price of $ 437 million, Austal USA's contractual price for LCS-6 was $ 432 million. On 29 December 2010, Department of Navy Undersecretary Sean Stackley noted that the program was well within the Congressional cost cap of $ 480 million per ship. The average per-ship target price for Lockheed ships is $ 362 million, Stackley said, with a goal of $ 352 million for each Austal USA ships. Government-furnished equipment (GFE), such as weapons, add about $ 25 million per ship; another $ 20 million for change orders, and "management reserve"
1584-412: A cost of $ 591 million for each ship. Navy acquisition chief Sean Stackley testified to a Senate panel that the actual price range was $ 440 to $ 460 million. A day before the offer's expiration, both Lockheed Martin and Austal USA received Navy contracts for an additional ten ships of their designs; two ships of each design being built each year between 2011 and 2015. Lockheed Martin's LCS-5 had
1760-467: A distance from the ship is less risky. Placing sensors on remote vehicles allows the LCS to exploit concepts such as bistatic sonar . DARPA 's Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node (TERN) program aims to build a medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (MALE UAV) that can operate from LCS-2 and can carry a payload of 600 pounds (270 kg) out to an operational radius of 600–900 nautical miles (1,100–1,700 km). A 2010 report by
1936-534: A fixed price contract in 2010 for up to ten ships, followed by an offer to build five additional ships of the same design as the first contract to the secondary builder. The Congress agreed with the Navy on this plan. On 23 August 2010, the U.S. Navy announced a delay in awarding the contract for 10 ships until the year's end. FY 2010 budget documents revealed that the total costs of the two lead ships had risen to $ 637 million for Freedom and $ 704 million for Independence . On 16 January 2010, Independence
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#17328448685422112-464: A four-axis independent control actuator system, increased rocket motor capability to 6.25–inch diameter, an improved passive radio frequency seeker and upgraded components of the infrared seeker, and advanced kinematics. On 8 May 2007, the U.S. Navy awarded Raytheon Missile Systems a $ 105 million development contract. Development was expected to be completed by December 2010. LRIP began in 2012. 51 missiles were initially ordered. On 22 October 2012,
2288-603: A large searchlight fitted with a filter to limit the output to the IR range. This provided enough light to see the target at short range, and Spanner Anlage was fitted to a small number of Messerschmitt Bf 110 and Dornier Do 17 night fighters . These proved largely useless in practice and the pilots complained that the target often only became visible at 200 metres (660 ft), at which point they would have seen it anyway. Only 15 were built and were removed as German airborne radar systems improved though 1942. AEG had been working with
2464-462: A missile airframe and considerable effort remained before an actual weapon would be ready for use. Nevertheless, a summer 1944 report to the German Air Ministry stated that these devices were far better developed than competing systems based on radar or acoustic methods. Aware of the advantages of passive IR homing, the research program started with a number of theoretical studies considering
2640-511: A more conventional hemispherical dome. The first test firing took place in 1955 and it entered service with the Royal Air Force in August 1958. The French R.510 project began later than Firestreak and entered experimental service in 1957, but was quickly replaced by a radar-homing version, the R.511. Neither was very effective and had short range on the order of 3 km. Both were replaced by
2816-470: A newly proposed frigate more capable of high-intensity combat. In late 2014, the Navy proceeded with a procurement plan for enhanced versions of the LCS and upgraded older ships to meet the program's 52-ship requirement; the modified LCS will be redesignated as FF, or frigate. In December 2015, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter ordered the Navy to reduce planned LCS and FF procurement from 52 to 40 and downselect to one variant by FY 2019. In July 2017,
2992-610: A number of victories in the middle east and Vietnam. A major upgrade program for the Redeye started in 1967, as the Redeye II. Testing did not begin until 1975 and the first deliveries of the now renamed FIM-92 Stinger began in 1978. An improved rosette seeker was added to the B model in 1983, and several additional upgrades followed. Sent to the Soviet–Afghan War , they claimed a 79% success rate against Soviet helicopters, although this
3168-494: A position where the missile would be able to continue tracking even after launch. This problem also led to efforts to make new missiles that would hit their targets even if launched under these less-than-ideal positions. In the UK this led to the SRAAM project, which was ultimately the victim of continually changing requirements. Two US programmes, AIM-82 and AIM-95 Agile , met similar fates. New seeker designs began to appear during
3344-498: A practical detector. Nevertheless, it was used for some time by the US Navy as a secure communications system. In 1930 the introduction of the Ag–O–Cs ( silver – oxygen – cesium ) photomultiplier provided the first practical solution to the detection of IR, combining it with a layer of galena as the photocathode . Amplifying the signal emitted by the galena, the photomultiplier produced
3520-439: A small Marine ground unit can be carried within an embarked mission module. In 2014, Marine Corps General John M. Paxton, Jr. claimed several deficiencies in using an LCS for amphibious operations as a substitute platform for an amphibious assault ship, including the ability to operate in difficult sea states, survivability in contested waters, limited flight deck and berthing space, and command and control limitations. In 2014,
3696-563: A supersonic version. At this stage the concept was for a defensive weapon fired rearward out of a long tube at the back end of bomber aircraft . In April 1949 the Firebird missile project was cancelled and MX-904 was redirected to be a forward-firing fighter weapon. The first test firings began in 1949, when it was given the designation AAM-A-2 (Air-to-air Missile, Air force, model 2) and the name Falcon. IR and semi-active radar homing (SARH) versions both entered service in 1956, and became known as
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#17328448685423872-432: A target. That makes them suitable for sneak attacks during visual encounters or over longer ranges when they are used with a forward looking infrared or similar cueing system. Heat-seekers are extremely effective: 90% of all United States air combat losses between 1984 and 2009 were caused by infrared-homing missiles. They are, however, subject to a number of simple countermeasures, most notably by dropping flares behind
4048-447: A transparent plate with a sequence of opaque segments painted on them that was placed in front of the IR detector. The plate spins at a fixed rate, which causes the image of the target to be periodically interrupted, or chopped . The Hamburg system developed during the war is the simplest system, and easiest to understand. Its chopper was painted black on one half with the other half left transparent. For this description we consider
4224-429: A useful output that could be used for detection of hot objects at long ranges. This sparked developments in a number of nations, notably the UK and Germany where it was seen as a potential solution to the problem of detecting night bombers . In the UK, research was plodding, with even the main research team at Cavendish Labs expressing their desire to work on other projects, especially after it became clear that radar
4400-568: A very desirable device. Kutzscher's team developed a system with the Eletroacustic Company of Kiel known as Hamburg , which was being readied for installation in the Blohm & Voss BV 143 glide bomb to produce an automated fire-and-forget anti-shipping missile. A more advanced version allowed the seeker to be directed off-axis by the bombardier in order to lock on to a target to the sides, without flying directly at it. However, this presented
4576-673: Is able to defend itself effectively against anti-ship cruise missiles, which are commonly employed in the littorals, although they can disperse in shallow waters better than larger warships. The LCS is reconfigured for various roles by changing mission packages, each of which includes mission module equipment (weapon systems, sensors, etc.), carried craft and mission crews. Modules include anti-submarine warfare (ASW), mine countermeasures (MCM), surface warfare (SUW), and special warfare missions. The MCM and SUW modules are planned to reach initial operating capability in Fiscal Year (FY) 2014, and
4752-406: Is also changed into a more simplified two-crew "blue/gold" model, like that used on submarines and minesweepers, where ships cycle to forward deployed locations with the two crews swapping roles every 4–5 months; aviation detachments will also deploy with the same LCS crew, creating an arrangement of a core 70-sailor crew to conduct the warfare mission and a 23-person air detachment. In addition to
4928-517: Is also included. Stackley declared the average cost to buy an LCS should be between $ 430 million and $ 440 million. In the fiscal year 2011, the unit cost was $ 1.8 billion and the program cost $ 3.7 billion. In May 2012, Robert Work said that the two designs may each be best suited to different theaters, the LCS-1 design being better suited for the enclosed waters of the Middle East, while
5104-622: Is debated. The Soviets likewise improved their own versions, introducing the 9K34 Strela-3 in 1974, and the greatly improved dual-frequency 9K38 Igla in 1983, and Igla-S in 2004. The three main materials used in the infrared sensor are lead(II) sulfide (PbS), indium antimonide (InSb) and mercury cadmium telluride (HgCdTe). Older sensors tend to use PbS, newer sensors tend to use InSb or HgCdTe. All perform better when cooled, as they are both more sensitive and able to detect cooler objects. Early infrared seekers were most effective in detecting infrared radiation with shorter wavelengths, such as
5280-590: Is fitted to each Independence -class vessel. In late 2014, the Navy revealed it had chosen to install the SeaRAM on its Small Surface Combatant LCS follow-on ships. Beginning in November 2015, the Navy will complete installation of a SeaRAM on the first of four Arleigh Burke -class destroyers patrolling within the U.S. 6th Fleet . The SeaRAM will equip the Royal Saudi Navy 's multi-mission surface combat (MMSC) based on
5456-476: Is increased by the combination of a destroyer's towed array and hull-mounted sonar and an LCS's VDS. In July 2015, the Navy awarded three contracts to reduce the weight of the package elements down to or below 105 metric tons total to meet mission package weight requirements. Since both elements are mature and fielded (the VDS on Royal Navy Type 23 frigates and MFTA on Arleigh Burke and Zumwalt -class destroyers ),
RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile - Misplaced Pages Continue
5632-639: Is integrated with the AN/SWY-2 Ship Defense Surface Missile System (SDSMS) and Ship Self-Defense System (SSDS) Mk 1 or Mk 2-based combat systems. SeaRAM, a launcher variant equipped with independent sensors derived from the Vulcan Phalanx CIWS , is being installed on Littoral Combat Ships and certain Arleigh Burke -class destroyers . The RIM-116 was developed by General Dynamics Pomona and Valley Systems divisions under
5808-621: Is jeopardized to perform missions like minesweeping while under the cover of a destroyer. The LCS's main purpose is to take up operations such as patrolling, port visits, anti-piracy, and partnership-building exercises to free up high-end surface combatants for increased combat availability. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus clarified that the ship could operate in combat areas while under the protection of other warships. The LCS's utility against high-tech enemies would be when working with and being covered by destroyers, like they do with aircraft carriers. With destroyers providing extended air and missile defense,
5984-436: Is not required, instead, both signals can be extracted from a single photocell with the use of electrical delays or a second reference signal 90 degrees out of phase with the first. This system produces a signal that is sensitive to the angle around the clock face, the bearing , but not the angle between the target and the missile centerline, the angle off (or angle error ). This was not required for anti-ship missiles where
6160-449: Is part of a risk reduction effort to contribute to a layered laser defense effort and the LCS's lethality to counter fast-attack craft and UAS. The anti-submarine module had its focus changed from stationary to en-stride systems (while the ship is moving) that are useful in the open ocean as well as in coastal areas. One of the items to be added is a torpedo detection capability. Thales has sold one CAPTAS-4 low-frequency active sonar to
6336-497: Is preceded by post-detection mission analysis. The first increment of the MCM included three systems: the helicopter-deployed airborne laser mine detection system (ALMDS); the airborne mine neutralization system (AMNS); and the remote minehunting system (RMS) composed of the remote multi-mission vehicle (RMMV) paired with the AQS-20A sonar. The ALMDS detects mines near the top of the water, and
6512-511: Is refracted through the temperature, salinity, and pressure profile; a VDS can pierce layers better than hull-mounted sonars found on destroyers and cruisers. LCSs will also be fitted with a torpedo decoy system under development. To destroy submarines, an MH-60S helicopter will deploy the Mark 54 Lightweight Torpedo . A wargame held by the Naval War College demonstrated the possibility of using
6688-437: Is set too small the image from the target is too small to create a useful signal, while setting it too large makes it inaccurate. For this reason, linear scanners have inherent accuracy limitations. Additionally, the dual reciprocating motion is complex and mechanically unreliable, and generally two separate detectors have to be used. Most early seekers used so-called spin-scan , chopper or reticle seekers. These consisted of
6864-534: The Freedom -class littoral combat ships . Primary function: Surface-to-air missile Contractor: Raytheon , Diehl BGT Defence Block 1 Block 1A Block 2 The Dutch Ministry of Defence announced on 14 January 2021 that it wants to purchase the Rolling Airframe Missile to upgrade several of its ships, including the landing platform docks HNLMS Rotterdam and HNLMS Johan de Witt ,
7040-545: The AIM-4 Falcon after 1962. The Falcon was a complex system offering limited performance, especially due to its lack of a proximity fuse, and managed only a 9% kill ratio in 54 firings during Operation Rolling Thunder in the Vietnam War . However, this relatively low success rate must be appreciated in the context of all these kills representing direct hits, something that was not true of every kill by other American AAMs. In
7216-554: The AIM-9M Sidewinder and Stinger use compressed gas like argon to cool their sensors in order to lock onto the target at longer ranges and all aspects. (Some such as the AIM-9J and early-model R-60 used a peltier thermoelectric cooler ). The detector in early seekers was barely directional, accepting light from a very wide field of view (FOV), perhaps 100 degrees across or more. A target located anywhere within that FOV produces
RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile - Misplaced Pages Continue
7392-791: The AN/AQS-20A underwater towed sonar, the remote minehunting system, the Coastal Battlefield Reconnaissance and Analysis system, and the Knifefish , a Surface mine countermeasure unmanned undersea vehicle. Canceled module features include the Organic Airborne and Surface Influence Sweep System, and the Rapid Airborne Mine Clearance System. The final increment IV MCM will not have an EOD team or an in-stride capability to neutralize discovered mines; neutralization
7568-464: The Hamburg , an AC signal was generated that matched the rotational frequency of the disk. However, in this case the signal does not turn on and off with angle, but is constantly being triggered very rapidly. This creates a series of pulses that are smoothed out to produce a second AC signal at the same frequency as the test signal, but whose phase is controlled by the actual position of the target relative to
7744-571: The Independence class with 18 NSMs. In July 2014, the Navy confirmed that it would test-launch the NSM from Coronado to evaluate feasibility, the first time an LCS fired a surface-to-surface missile. The NSM has a range of 100 nmi (120 mi; 190 km), greater than the Harpoon anti-ship missile, but LCSs lack long-range fire control systems to detect targets at this distance. On 24 September 2014,
7920-511: The Oliver Hazard Perry , Osprey , and Avenger classes were reaching the end of their lives, the U.S. Navy released the LCS requirement. In 2004, Lockheed Martin , General Dynamics and Raytheon submitted design proposals. It was decided to produce two vessels each (Flight 0) of the Lockheed Martin design (LCS-1 and LCS-3) and of the General Dynamics design (LCS-2 and LCS-4). After these are brought into service, and experience gathered on
8096-596: The U.S. Coast Guard began advocating the LCS as a tailor-made platform for drug interdiction missions. Under pressure from Navy vessels retiring, the Coast Guard will suffer a surface vessel shortage for intercepting smuggling ships in the Caribbean area, forcing the Navy to examine other platforms for drug interdiction. The Coast Guard noted that the LCS has previously performed this task, and pointed towards its high speed and embarked helicopters to run down fast smuggling boats;
8272-521: The United States Navy . It was "envisioned to be a networked, agile, stealthy surface combatant capable of defeating anti-access and asymmetric threats in the littorals ", although their ability to perform these missions in practice has been called into question. Littoral combat ships are comparable to corvettes found in other navies. The Freedom class and the Independence class are
8448-510: The infrared (IR) light emission from a target to track and follow it seamlessly. Missiles which use infrared seeking are often referred to as "heat-seekers" since infrared is radiated strongly by hot bodies. Many objects such as people, vehicle engines and aircraft generate and emit heat and so are especially visible in the infrared wavelengths of light compared to objects in the background. Infrared seekers are passive devices, which, unlike radar , provide no indication that they are tracking
8624-426: The "Sun Tracker", was being developed as a possible guidance system for an intercontinental ballistic missile . Testing this system led to the 1948 Lake Mead Boeing B-29 crash . USAAF project MX-798 was awarded to Hughes Aircraft in 1946 for an infrared tracking missile. The design used a simple reticle seeker and an active system to control roll during flight. This was replaced the next year by MX-904, calling for
8800-587: The 1960s support this claim. As more littoral combat ships are built and enter service, Mabus said operational costs will decline to acceptable limits. On 2 November 2016 the Pentagon blocked publication of cost overruns on both designs. On 2 December 2016, it was reported that the GAO was critical of the LCS's ability to complete a navy requirement of 30 consecutive days underway without a critical failure of one or more essential subsystems. DOT&E Michael Gilmore states that
8976-410: The 1960s. A new generation developed in the 1970s and the 1980s made great strides and significantly improved their lethality. The latest examples from the 1990s and on have the ability to attack targets out of their field of view (FOV) behind them and even to pick out vehicles on the ground. IR seekers are also the basis for many semi-automatic command to line of sight (SACLOS) weapons. In this use,
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#17328448685429152-474: The 1970s and led to a series of more advanced missiles. A major upgrade to the Sidewinder began, providing it with a seeker that was sensitive enough to track from any angle, giving the missile all aspect capability for the first time. This was combined with a new scanning pattern that helped reject confusing sources (like the sun reflecting off clouds) and improve the guidance towards the target. A small number of
9328-436: The 4.2 micrometre emissions of the carbon dioxide efflux of a jet engine . This made them useful primarily in tail-chase scenarios, where the exhaust was visible and the missile's approach was carrying it toward the aircraft as well. In combat these proved extremely ineffective as pilots attempted to make shots as soon as the seeker saw the target, launching at angles where the target's engines were quickly obscured or flew out of
9504-420: The 57 mm main gun was more suitable to a patrol boat than a frigate. Austal's vice president for sales, Craig Hooper, suggested that the ships should instead be used for UAV operations. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has called the lack of identified missions for the LCS "one of its greatest strengths". The various modules all use the same Internet Protocol formats. In 2013 Congressional auditors found that
9680-620: The ASW module in FY 2016. Module changes were envisioned to allow a single LCS to change roles in a matter of hours at any commercial port, allowing it to rapidly optimize effectiveness against a threat. A report from the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV) on a January 2012 sustainment wargame reportedly stated that, possibly for logistics reasons, the mission module changes may take as long as weeks, and that in
9856-560: The Block 0 missiles achieved hit rates of over 95%. The Block 1 (RIM-116B) is an improved version of the RAM missile that adds an overall infrared-only guidance system that enables it to intercept missiles that are not emitting any radar signals . The Block 0's radar homing capabilities have been retained. The Block 2 (RIM-116C) is an upgraded version of the RAM missile aimed at more effectively countering more maneuverable anti-ship missiles through
10032-457: The Block 2 RAM was achieved on 15 May 2015. In early 2018 the U.S. State Department approved the sale of RIM-116 Block II to the Mexican Navy for use on their future Sigma-class design frigates, the first of which was jointly built by Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding and launched in November 2018. In 1998, a memorandum of understanding was signed by the defense departments of Germany and
10208-490: The Block III version was put into production. The Soviets started development of two almost identical weapons in 1964, Strela-1 and Strela-2. Development of these proceeded much more smoothly, as the 9K32 Strela-2 entered service in 1968 after fewer years of development than the Redeye. Originally a competing design, the 9K31 Strela-1 was instead greatly increased in size for vehicle applications and entered service at around
10384-550: The DD-21 and replaced it with a "family" of ships, including the littoral combat ship, being motivated to produce ships cheaper and faster to increase fleet size. Clark declared the LCS was his "most transformational effort" and number-one budget priority in 2003. The Navy committed to the $ 15 billion (2003) program in advance of rigorous analysis or clearly defined purpose, appearance, or survivability. Proponents typically pointed to its speed, asymmetric littoral threats, and impact on
10560-576: The Griffin was set for 2015, with a longer-ranged version to enter service around 2017; however, procurement was canceled after the missiles were judged as "too lightweight". An enhanced Griffin and the Sea Spear were considered likely competitors for the increment 2 missile. The Navy chose to integrate the millimeter wave radar-guided AGM-114L Hellfire missile to increase the LCS's standoff firepower and defense against swarming fast attack craft. Navy use of
10736-507: The Hellfire gives access to the U.S. Army's existing stockpile of 10,000 missiles. The Hellfire is an interim decision; the Navy is interested in developing a longer-range version. An LCS can carry 24 Hellfire missiles in its SSMM, using M299 vertical launchers mounted within a gas containment system; the SSMM design does not facilitate at-sea reloading. The Hellfire was slated to be operational aboard
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#173284486854210912-469: The LCS by 2017. A longer-range missile with an over-the-horizon (OTH) engagement capability was planned to defend against fast attack craft, ships, and patrol boats by 2020 as part of the surface warfare package Increment 4. Norwegian company Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace proposed equipping LCSs with their radar-evading Naval Strike Missile , presenting scale models of the Freedom class with 12 NSMs and
11088-414: The LCS in open water operations to assist carrier strike groups and guided-missile destroyers. The LCS was found to be more useful in open water operations than previously considered. The wargame found that an LCS operating the ASW package could perform the mission, which freed up a destroyer that would normally perform the mission to contribute to the lethality of the strike group. Submarine hunting ability
11264-607: The LCS using a variable depth sonar (VDS) and the TB-37 MFTA. Both can passively listen or actively emit to analyze the returns. The VDS was originally planned to be the Raytheon AN/SQS-62, but the Navy canceled it in 2022 due to high risk, instead choosing the Thales CAPTAS-4 in 2023. The VDS will allow the LCS to detect diesel-electric submarines while on the move. Submarines can hide behind water layers based on how sound
11440-417: The LCS was designed to pull out of combat upon sustaining damage. The baseline LCS seaframe designs, however, boast a better air and missile defense capability than the partially disarmed and now retired Perry class, which somewhat counters claims that LCS is "unsurvivable". Other observers suggest that the ships' lifecycle costs and resilience challenges result from the optimal-manning concept, which increases
11616-582: The LCS will be able to replace slower, more specialized ships such as minesweepers and larger amphibious-type assault ships. Most of the mission modules' functions are performed by carried vehicles such as helicopters or unmanned vehicles such as the Spartan Scout , AN/WLD-1 RMS Remote Minehunting System and MQ-8B Fire Scout as part of the Navy's goal to "unman the front lines". Performing functions such as sonar sweeps for mines or submarines as well as launching torpedoes against hostile submarines at
11792-593: The LCS-2 design for the Pacific Ocean's open waters. In order to increase commonality, the Navy will force both types to use the same combat system electronics. The handoff from General Dynamics to Austal of management for the Independence class led to a 13-month schedule slip as the company struggled with building the JHSV ships at the same facilities. In May 2013, the GAO called for a pause in ship construction until issues with
11968-528: The LCS. The Mine Countermeasure Module (MCM) is designed to provide minesweeping; remotely detecting and bypassing mines; and minehunting, detecting, and disabling. It was envisioned to perform "influence" minehunting via acoustic and magnetic signatures rather than contact or mechanical minehunting. The MCM includes the Airborne Laser Mine Detection system, the Airborne mine neutralization system,
12144-512: The Mk 49 Guided Missile Launching System (GMLS) and support equipment, make up the RAM Mk 31 Guided Missile Weapon System (GMWS). The Mk-144 Guided Missile Launcher (GML) unit weighs 5,777 kilograms (12,736 lb) and stores 21 missiles. The original weapon cannot employ its own sensors prior to firing, so it must be integrated with a ship's combat system, which directs the launcher at targets. On U.S. ships, it
12320-701: The NSC would be a better match for the listed mission set while lacking the LCS's mission modules to perform many missions. In May 2012, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems released a study that showed seven LCS can more efficiently perform anti-piracy patrols in the Western Indian Ocean than a fleet of 20 conventional ships for a quarter of the cost. To help reduce cost of each ships, in September 2009, Navy Acquisition Chief Sean Stackley and Vice Admiral Barry McCullough indicated that only one contractor would be offered
12496-472: The NSM was successfully fired at a mobile target. The LCS's modular design makes it possible to add weapons and sensors as part of the warfare suite. This could mitigate lethality criticism of the LCS, which is oriented toward asymmetric swarm boat threats rather than comparable surface combatants. In September 2015, the Navy issued a directive to install an OTH missile on Freedom and Coronado for their next deployments in early and mid-2016. The exact missile
12672-674: The Navy John Lehman called for fixed-price contracts to be adopted. Pressure mounted in Congress for the Navy to control the cost: in June 2009, during a hearing of the House Armed Services Seapower Subcommittee , Subcommittee Chairman Gene Taylor , D-Miss, said that other contractors would be keen to build LCS as the subcommittee added language requiring the Navy to open bidding if either lead contractor walked away from
12848-489: The Navy announced a new bidding process for the next three ships, the winner building two ships and the loser building one. In the 26 September 2008 U.S. presidential debate , Senator John McCain (R-AZ) cited the LCS as an example of botched contracting driving up costs unnecessarily. In March 2009, then-Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter announced that LCS-3 would be named Fort Worth after Fort Worth, Texas , and
13024-508: The Navy plans to base 10 Freedom -class ships at Naval Station Mayport, Florida which could be tasked to conduct interdiction missions. In the late 1990s, the U.S. Navy realized its Cold War -era cruisers and destroyers had been designed for open-ocean warfare and would be vulnerable in shallow coastal waters, where they would face dangers from high-speed boats, missile-firing fast-attack craft, small submarines, sea mines, and land and air-launched anti-ship missiles. The Navy's official solution
13200-408: The Navy released a request for information for a new multi-mission guided-missile frigate that can perform the same roles as the LCS while having better offensive and defensive capabilities. Almost any existing design that can be adapted to FFG(X) requirements can be considered, extending beyond versions of the two LCS hulls. In April 2020, it was announced that Fincantieri Marinette Marine had won
13376-549: The Navy's dependence on contractors and diminishes opportunities to monitor and repair engineering systems during operations. The deployment of USS Freedom was seen by the Navy as an opportunity to test the ship and operational concepts in the real-world. The Navy was about to conclude a war game at the Naval War College to examine ways of exploiting LCS capabilities in Western Pacific and other scenarios. Hunt added that
13552-545: The Navy's survivability standards, and that the LCS would be used during the initial phase in the theatre and sense the environment before hostilities occur. Detractors claim the LCS is not survivable enough for long-range threats that China possesses; LCSs are built to the Navy's survivability category Level I+, higher than Level I patrol craft and mine warfare ships, but lower than the Level II Oliver Hazard Perry -class frigate they are replacing. The Navy has said
13728-488: The Pacific alone, embark a helicopter, have a minimum 40 knot top speed, and cost $ 220 million. The Navy was only willing to build one type of ship; the ship's task force, realizing that it would be virtually impossible for one vessel to fill all roles, advocated for a larger hull to cover the mission range through modularity, organic combat power, and unmanned systems. Empty space was left for weapon and sensor mission modules. When
13904-468: The Pentagon's director of operational test and evaluation (DOT&E) found that neither design was expected to "be survivable in a hostile combat environment" and that neither ship could withstand the Navy's full ship shock trials. The Navy responded that the LCS is built to a Level 1+ survivability standard and that the ships will rely on warnings from networks and speed to avoid being hit, or if hit be able to limp to safety. ADM Jonathan Greenert said that
14080-520: The Phalanx, SeaRAM can be fitted to any class of ship. Due to the common mounting, SeaRAM inherits the relatively easy installation characteristics of its gun-based sibling, with Raytheon stating that SeaRAM "fits the exact shipboard installation footprint of the Phalanx, uses the same power and requires minimal shipboard modification". In 2008, the first SeaRAM system was delivered to be installed on USS Independence . As of December 2013, one SeaRAM
14256-576: The R-73 problem was initially going to be the ASRAAM , a pan-European design that combined the performance of the R-73 with an imaging seeker. In a wide-ranging agreement, the US agreed to adopt ASRAAM for their new short-range missile, while the Europeans would adopt AMRAAM as their medium-range weapon. However, ASRAAM soon ran into intractable delays as each of the member countries decided a different performance metric
14432-562: The RAM Block 2 completed its third guided test vehicle flight, firing two missiles in a salvo and directly hitting the target, to verify the system's command and control capabilities, kinematic performance, guidance system, and airframe capabilities. Raytheon was scheduled to deliver 25 Block 2 missiles during the program's integrated testing phase. The Block 2 RAM was delivered to the U.S. Navy in August 2014, with 502 missiles to be acquired from 2015 to 2019. Initial Operational Capability (IOC) for
14608-480: The RF tracking system uses a two-antenna interferometer that can measure phase interference of the electromagnetic wave in one plane only. The rolling interferometer permits the antennas to look at all planes of incoming energy. In addition, because the missile rolls, only one pair of steering canards is required. As of 2005, it is the only U.S. Navy missile to operate in this manner. The Rolling Airframe Missiles, together with
14784-551: The RMMV due to reliability issues, with the existing ten RMMVs to be upgraded to increase reliability. The upgraded RMMVs will be fielded in 2018, and testing will be conducted to see if the Fleet class common unmanned surface vessel (CUSV) can tow the AQS-20A, and if successful will be used for minehunting by 2020. If the Knifefish UUV can have its endurance increased, the vessel will take over
14960-628: The RMS will detect them below the waterline. To destroy mines, the AMNS is lowered by the helicopter and guided by an operator on board to neutralize it. Increment two will be the coastal battlefield reconnaissance and analysis system (COBRA) mounted on the MQ-8B to search beaches and surf zones. Increment three will involve adding the Fleet-class unmanned surface vessel (USV) with the unmanned surface sweep system (USSS),
15136-524: The Surface-to-Surface Missile Module (SSMM) for the first time. In January 2011, the U.S. Navy recommended the selection of Raytheon 's Griffin missile to replace the NLOS-LS missile, lowering the LCS's missile range from 25 miles (40 km) to 3.5 miles (5.6 km). The packages were to be deployed in sets of three, with 15 per set for a total of 45 missiles. Initial deployment of
15312-565: The U.S. Navy to be towed behind the LCS, with a potential order of 25 units. The USN tested combination of this unit, derived from the Sonar 2087 on British Type 23 frigates , with the TB-37 Multi-Function Towed Array (MFTA) found on U.S. warships. As of September 2013 , deployment of the ASW module was planned for 2016, with the 2013 sequestration cuts potentially pushing it back to 2017. Submarine detection will be achieved on
15488-671: The U.S. shipbuilding industry. The LCS suffered from requirements creep, adding more missions and equipment, potentially rendering it too complex and expensive to use. When it was decided the ship would not be expendable, the original concept of a small, cheap, simple coastal warship became bigger, more expensive, and more complicated, with a smaller crew due to automation. The new design was assigned six different missions which had been previously performed by individual ships: submarine and mine hunting; combating small boats; intelligence gathering; transporting special forces; and counter-drug and piracy patrols. Each ship would be big enough to sail across
15664-658: The United States to improve the system so that it could also engage so-called "HAS", H elicopter, A ircraft, and S urface targets. As developed, the HAS upgrade just required software modifications that can be applied to all Block 1 RAM missiles. The SeaRAM combines the radar and electro-optical system of the Phalanx CIWS Mk-15 Block 1B (CRDC) with an 11-cell RAM launcher to produce an autonomous system—one which does not need any external information to engage threats. Like
15840-464: The ability to be fired at targets completely out of view of the seeker; after firing the missile would orient itself in the direction indicated by the launcher and then attempt to lock on. When combined with a helmet mounted sight , the missile could be cued and targeted without the launch aircraft first having to point itself at the target. This proved to offer significant advantages in combat, and caused great concern for Western forces. The solution to
16016-477: The aircraft and thus produce an ever-increasing signal while the aircraft is providing little or none. Additionally, as the missile approaches the target, smaller changes in relative angle are enough to move it out of this center null area and start causing control inputs again. With a bang-bang controller, such designs tend to begin to overreact during the last moments of the approach, causing large miss distances and demanding large warheads. A great improvement on
16192-410: The angle-off and feed that into the controls as well. This can be accomplished with the same disk and some work on the physical arrangement of the optics. Since the physical distance between the radial bars is larger at the outer position of the disk, the image of the target on the photocell is also larger, and thus has greater output. By arranging the optics so the signal is increasingly cut off closer to
16368-451: The basic spin-scan concept is the conical scanner or con-scan . In this arrangement, a fixed reticle is placed in front of the detector and both are positioned at the focus point of a small Cassegrain reflector telescope. The secondary mirror of the telescope is pointed slightly off-axis, and spins. This causes the image of the target to be spun around the reticle , instead of the reticle itself spinning. Consider an example system where
16544-618: The cancellation of the XM501 Non-Line-of-Sight Launch System . The Independence variant reportedly has better helicopter facilities and more internal space while the Freedom variant is said to be better able to launch and recover boats in high seas. Admiral Gary Roughead said that a mix of both types would be "operationally advantageous". In April 2012, Chief of Naval Operations Greenert said, "You won't send it into an anti-access area"; rather, groups of two or three ships are intended to be sent into areas where access
16720-409: The center of the disk, the resulting output signal varies in amplitude with the angle-off. However, it will also vary in amplitude as the missile approaches the target, so this is not a complete system by itself and some form of automatic gain control is often desired. Spin-scan systems can eliminate the signal from extended sources like sunlight reflecting from clouds or hot desert sand. To do this,
16896-478: The center of the operator's telescope. SACLOS systems of this sort have been used both for anti-tank missiles and surface-to-air missiles , as well as other roles. The infrared sensor package on the tip or head of a heat-seeking missile is known as the seeker head . The NATO brevity code for an air-to-air infrared-guided missile launch is Fox Two . The ability of certain substances to give off electrons when struck by infrared light had been discovered by
17072-401: The centerline it was. Other systems used a second scanning disk with radial slits to provide the same result but from a second output circuit. AEG developed a much more advanced system during the war, and this formed the basis of most post-war experiments. In this case, the disk was pattered with a series of opaque regions, often in a series of radial stripes forming a pizza-slice pattern. Like
17248-424: The cheaper (one-fourth the cost of a destroyer) and more numerous LCS can sweep for mines and deploy more sophisticated submarine-detecting sonar. Following the decision to arm the LCS with anti-ship missiles , Navy wargames showed the adversary's risk calculus was radically changed, devoting more reconnaissance assets to trying to locate the smaller ships and sustaining heavier losses. The ships are planned to have
17424-472: The code name Blue Jay . Designed as an anti-bomber weapon, the Blue Jay was larger, much heavier and flew faster than its US counterparts, but had about the same range. It had a more advanced seeker, using PbTe and cooled to −180 °C (−292.0 °F) by anhydrous ammonia to improve its performance. One distinguishing feature was its faceted nose cone, which was selected after it was found ice would build up on
17600-814: The contract with its FREMM multi-purpose frigate -based design, which would be eventually adopted as the Constellation -class frigate . The concept behind the littoral combat ship, as described by former Secretary of the Navy Gordon R. England , is to "create a small, fast, maneuverable and relatively inexpensive member of the DD(X) family of ships". The ship is easy to reconfigure for different roles, including anti-submarine warfare , mine countermeasures , anti-surface warfare , intelligence , surveillance and reconnaissance , homeland defense, maritime intercept, special operations , and logistics . Due to its modular design,
17776-401: The control system and commands the missile to turn up. A second cell placed at the 3 o'clock position completes the system. In this case, the switching takes place not at the 9 and 3 o'clock positions, but 12 and 6 o'clock. Considering the same target, in this case, the waveform has just reached its maximum positive point at 12 o'clock when it is switched negative. Following this process around
17952-415: The crew would "conduct an orderly abandon ship" if their ship was struck by enemy fire, an action that might not be necessary on other vessels in the same circumstances. The ships were designed to minimize vulnerability with modern automated damage control systems to perform its mission, then withdraw from the area under its own power. The combat abilities of the LCS were said to be "very modest" even before
18128-419: The current LCS fleet "have a near-zero chance" of meeting this requirement. Instead of declaring a winner out of the two competing designs, the U.S. Navy in November 2010 asked the Congress to allow for the order of ten of each design. U.S. Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) said that the change was made because both bids were under the Congressional price cap. Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said that unlike
18304-458: The design's usability and efficiency, the future design for the class would be chosen (Flight I). The ultimate decision was to fund both designs as two variants of the class. On 9 May 2005, Secretary of the Navy Gordon R. England announced that the first LCS would be named USS Freedom . Her keel was laid down on 2 June 2005 at Marinette Marine , Marinette, Wisconsin . The contract to build
18480-401: The detector, or in the case of Madrid , two metal vanes were tilted to block off more or less of the signal. By comparing the time the flash was received to the location of the scanner at that time, the vertical and horizontal angle-off can be determined. However, these seekers also have the major disadvantage that their FOV is determined by the physical size of the slit (or opaque bar). If this
18656-410: The disk spinning clockwise as seen from the sensor; we will call the point in the rotation when the line between the dark and light halves is horizontal and the transparent side is on the top to be the 12 o'clock position. A photocell is positioned behind the disk at the 12 o'clock position. A target is located just above the missile. The sensor begins to see the target when the disk is at 9 o'clock, as
18832-401: The disk. By comparing the phase of the two signals, both the vertical and horizontal correction can be determined from a single signal. A great improvement was made as part of the Sidewinder program, feeding the output to the pilot's headset where it creates a sort of growling sound known as the missile tone that indicates that the target is visible to the seeker. In early systems this signal
19008-438: The emissions from the targets. This led to the practical discovery that the vast majority of the IR output from a piston-engine aircraft was between 3 and 4.5 micrometers. The exhaust was also a strong emitter, but cooled rapidly in the air so that it did not present a false tracking target. Studies were also made on atmospheric attenuation, which demonstrated that air is generally more transparent to IR than visible light, although
19184-433: The entire seeker assembly is mounted on a gimbal system that allows it to track the target through wide angles, and the angle between the seeker and the missile aircraft is used to produce guidance corrections. This gives rise the concepts of instantaneous field of view (IFOV) which is the angle the detector sees, and the overall field of view, also known as the tacking angle or off-boresight capability , which includes
19360-443: The excessive beam (width) of the trimaran Independence -class ships may pose a "navigational challenge in narrow waterways and tight harbors". The report also found that the contractor-based maintenance scheme for the ships had led to poorly supervised and unaccountable contractors leaving problems unresolved. As contract workers are required to be American, they must be flown out to any foreign ports visited by an LCS. A special panel
19536-494: The famous Indian polymath Jagadish Chandra Bose in 1901, who saw the effect in galena , known today as lead sulfide, PbS. There was little application at the time, and he allowed his 1904 patent to lapse. In 1917, Theodore Case , as part of his work on what became the Movietone sound system , discovered that a mix of thallium and sulfur was much more sensitive, but was highly unstable electrically and proved to be of little use as
19712-583: The first effective French design, the R.530 , in 1962. The Soviets introduced their first infrared homing missile, the Vympel K-13 in 1961, after reverse engineering a Sidewinder that stuck in the wing of a Chinese MiG-17 in 1958 during the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis . The K-13 was widely exported, and faced its cousin over Vietnam throughout the war. It proved even less reliable than the AIM-9B it
19888-450: The first production contracts were awarded in 2004, no mission module worked outside of a laboratory. Fast, cheap construction was emphasized, solving problems with technology. In 2003, the Navy launched its first experimental LCS, Sea Fighter , designated as fast sea frame or FSF-1. In 2005, the SWATH -hulled Sea Fighter entered service as an experimental vessel using mission modules. As
20064-402: The fixed signal is filtered out. A significant problem with the spin-scan system is that the signal when the target is near the center drops to zero. This is because even its small image covers several segments as they narrow at the center, producing a signal similar enough to an extended source that it is filtered out. This makes such seekers extremely sensitive to flares, which move away from
20240-459: The forefront much sooner than under the original schedule, some of which would not have been learnt until two years on." In 2013, Under Secretary of the Navy Robert O. Work explained that cost overruns were partly due to the shipbuilders' bidding to American Bureau of Shipping commercial standards, the Navy changed this to Level I survivability standards for greater crew survivability, although
20416-419: The fourth ship would be named Coronado after Coronado, California . The contracts for LCS-3 and LCS-4 were renewed in early 2009. In April 2009, the Navy announced its revised procurement plan that three ships be funded in the FY 2010 budget; officials also hinted that the Navy may not down-select to one design for further orders, pointing out complementary features of the two designs. Former Secretary of
20592-450: The future, the Navy plans to use LCSs with a single module, with module changes being a rare occurrence. In 2014, Independence switched from mine to surface warfare modes in 96 hours on short notice. In an announcement on 8 September 2016, the Navy revealed a radical change in operations and organization plans for the LCS. Of the 28 Flight 0 ships built or on order, the first four, two of each class, will be turned into training ships, and
20768-526: The gap in amphibious shipping. In August 2014, USS Coronado demonstrated the ability to rapidly stage and deploy Marine Corps ground units, including operations by two Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadrons (HMLA) that conducted day and night deck-landing qualifications. The Independence -class LCS's features of high speed, a large flight deck to support UH-1Y Venom and AH-1W Super Cobra helicopters, and reconfigurable mission bay can support air and small-boat employment and delivery of ground and air forces;
20944-403: The high degree of sensitivity required to lock onto the lower-level signals coming from the front and sides of an aircraft. Background heat from inside the sensor, or the aerodynamically heated sensor window, can overpower the weak signal entering the sensor from the target. ( CCDs in cameras have similar problems; they have much more "noise" at higher temperatures.) Modern all-aspect missiles like
21120-480: The lack of comprehensive risk assessment. On 13 December 2010, both production teams extended their contract offers until 30 December in order to give more time for the Navy to push through the plan. The Navy would be forced to award the contract to only one team if it failed to secure Congressional approval. The Navy budgeted $ 490 million for each ship while the Congressional Budget Office projected
21296-413: The location of the target by timing when the image disappeared (AEG) or reappeared (Kepka). The Kepka Madrid system had an instantaneous field of view (IFOV) of about 1.8 degrees and scanned a full 20 degree pattern. Combined with the movement of the entire seeker within the missile, it could track at angles as great as 100 degrees. Rheinmetall-Borsig and another team at AEG produced different variations on
21472-489: The markings on the reticle. At this same instant, a spin-scan system would be producing a constant output in its center null. Flares will still be seen by the con-scan seeker and cause confusion, but they will no longer overwhelm the target signal as it does in the case of spin-scan when the flare leaves the null point. Littoral combat ship A littoral combat ship ( LCS ) is either of two classes of relatively small surface vessels designed for near-shore operations by
21648-431: The missile missed the target, the test validated the ability to launch Harpoon missiles from the forward deck of an LCS. In May 2018, the Navy selected the NSM as the LCS's OTH missile. In January 2020, the Navy reported that Lockheed Martin's 150 kW High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS) would be put on USS Little Rock (LCS-9) for her upcoming deployment. The laser
21824-555: The missile's field of view. Such seekers, which are most sensitive to the 3 to 5 micrometre range, are now called single-color seekers. This led to new seekers sensitive to both the exhaust as well as the longer 8 to 13 micrometer wavelength range, which is less absorbed by the atmosphere and thus allows dimmer sources like the fuselage itself to be detected. Such designs are known as "all-aspect" missiles. Modern seekers combine several detectors and are called two-color systems. All-aspect seekers also tend to require cooling to give them
22000-527: The missile, called Block 0 , is based on the AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missile, whose rocket motor , fuze , and warhead are used. Block 0 missiles were designed to initially home in on radiation emitted from a target (such as the active radar of an incoming anti-ship missile ), switching to an infrared seeker derived from that of the FIM-92 Stinger missile for terminal guidance. In test firings,
22176-590: The mission bays in order to carry the crew required for operations. However, the ships are designed with sufficient headroom to change from 2-high bunking to 3-high bunking, which would allow crew sizes of 100 if needed. The LCS is the first USN surface combatant class in a generation to not use the Aegis Combat System , though Aegis-equipped variants have been offered to foreign customers. They have suffered from problems in their communications and radars and will require refits in these areas. Neither LCS class
22352-470: The mission from both systems. The Navy included an irregular warfare package in its 2012 budget request to Congress. Californian congressman Duncan D. Hunter wrote that the purchase of 55 LCS units was made at the cost of 10 fewer amphibious vessels. Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps , General Joseph Dunford said in 2011 that the LCS is one of the platforms under consideration to help close
22528-456: The movement of the entire seeker assembly. Since the assembly cannot move instantly, a target moving rapidly across the missile's line of flight may be lost from the IFOV, which gives rise to the concept of a tracking rate , normally expressed in degrees per second. Some of the earliest German seekers used a linear-scan solution, where vertical and horizontal slits were moved back and forth in front of
22704-399: The negative voltage portion of its waveform, so the switch inverts this back to positive. When the disk reaches the 9 o'clock position the cell switches again, no longer inverting the signal, which is now entering its positive phase again. The resulting output from this cell is a series of half-sine waves, always positive. This signal is then smoothed out to produce a DC output, which is sent to
22880-700: The new Super Vita–class fast attack craft with the RAM. South Korea has signed license-production contracts for their navy's KDX-II , KDX-III , and Dokdo -class amphibious assault ships. The U.S. Navy plans to purchase a total of about 1,600 RAMs and 115 launchers to equip 74 ships. The missile is currently active aboard Gerald R. Ford -class aircraft carriers, Nimitz -class aircraft carriers, Wasp -class amphibious assault ships, America -class amphibious assault ships, San Antonio -class amphibious transport dock ships, Whidbey Island -class dock landing ships, Harpers Ferry -class dock landing ships, and littoral combat ships (LCS) . The original version of
23056-469: The next year. Wally Schirra recalls visiting the lab and watching the seeker follow his cigarette. The missile was given the name Sidewinder after a local snake; the name had a second significance as the sidewinder is a pit viper and hunts by heat, and moves in an undulating pattern not unlike the missile. The Sidewinder entered service in 1957, and was widely used during the Vietnam war. It proved to be
23232-470: The offered $ 460 million fixed price contracts. In response, the Naval Sea Systems Command conducted a study on whether reducing the top speed requirement from 40 knots to 30 could help keep the ships under the price cap. The Congress asked the Navy to study improvement programs on existing ships in place of the LCS program. In June 2009, Vice Admiral Barry McCullough , USN testified in
23408-469: The period the target is visible to the sensor, the AC waveform is in the positive voltage period, varying from zero to its maximum and back to zero. When the target disappears, the sensor triggers a switch that inverts the output of the AC signal. For instance, when the disk reaches the 3 o'clock position and the target disappears, the switch is triggered. This is the same instant that the original AC waveform begins
23584-605: The possibility of splitting orders for projects like KC-X or the General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 , the Pentagon had already paid the development cost for both designs so there was no further development required for both designs and have them compete for future orders. In December 2010, the Government Accountability Office identified some problems with the designs including extremely long crew training time, unrealistic maintenance plans, and
23760-487: The presence of water vapour and carbon dioxide produced several sharp drops in transitivity. Finally, they also considered the issue of background sources of IR, including reflections off clouds and similar effects, concluding this was an issue due to the way it changed very strongly across the sky. This research suggested that an IR seeker could home on a three-engine bomber at 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) with an accuracy of about 1 ⁄ 10 degree, making an IR seeker
23936-428: The problem that when the bomb was first released it was traveling too slowly for the aerodynamic surfaces to easily control it, and the target sometimes slipped out from the view of the seeker. A stabilized platform was being developed to address this problem. The company also developed a working IR proximity fuse by placing additional detectors pointing radially outward from the missile centerline. which triggered when
24112-427: The remaining 24 will be divided into six divisions of four ships each: three divisions of the Freedom class based at Naval Station Mayport , Florida, and three divisions of the Independence class based at Naval Station San Diego , California. The new organization does away with the LCS's signature interchangeable mission module concept, with each division being tasked to fulfill one of the three mission sets. Crewing
24288-511: The resulting L models were rushed to the UK just prior to their engagement in the Falklands War , where they achieved an 82% kill ratio, and the misses were generally due to the target aircraft flying out of range. The Argentine aircraft, equipped with Sidewinder B and R.550 Magic , could only fire from the rear aspect, which the British pilots simply avoided by always flying directly at them. The L
24464-421: The reticle is modified by making one half of the plate be covered not with stripes but a 50% transmission color. The output from such a system is a sine wave for half of the rotation and a constant signal for the other half. The fixed output varies with the overall illumination of the sky. An extended target that spans several segments, like a cloud, will cause a fixed signal as well, and any signal that approximates
24640-410: The rotation causes a series of chopped-off positive and negative sine waves. When this is passed through the same smoothing system, the output is zero. This means the missile does not have to correct left or right. If the target were to move to the right, for instance, the signal would be increasingly positive from the smoother, indicating increasing corrections to the right. In practice a second photocell
24816-593: The same output signal. Since the goal of the seeker is to bring the target within the lethal radius of its warhead, the detector must be equipped with some system to narrow the FOV to a smaller angle. This is normally accomplished by placing the detector at the focal point of a telescope of some sort. This leads to a problem of conflicting performance requirements. As the FOV is reduced, the seeker becomes more accurate, and this also helps eliminate background sources which helps improve tracking. However, limiting it too much allows
24992-549: The same systems for use on tanks , and deployed a number of models through the war, with limited production of the FG 1250 beginning in 1943. This work culminated in the Zielgerät 1229 Vampir riflescope which was used with the StG 44 assault rifle for night use. The devices mentioned previously were all detectors, not seekers. They either produce a signal indicating the general direction of
25168-527: The same technologies have appeared in the Chinese PL-10 and Israeli Python-5 . Based on the same general principles as the original Sidewinder, in 1955 Convair began studies on a small man-portable missile ( MANPADS ) that would emerge as the FIM-43 Redeye . Entering testing in 1961, the preliminary design proved to have poor performance, and a number of major upgrades followed. It was not until 1968 that
25344-461: The same time. The UK began development of its Blowpipe in 1975, but placed the seeker on the launcher instead of the missile itself. The seeker sensed both the target and the missile and sent corrections to the missile via a radio link. These early weapons proved ineffective, with the Blowpipe failing in almost every combat use, while the Redeye fared somewhat better. The Strela-2 did better and claimed
25520-615: The same year as MX-798, 1946, William B. McLean began studies of a similar concept at the Naval Ordnance Test Station, today known as Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake . He spent three years simply considering various designs, which led to a considerably less complicated design than the Falcon. When his team had a design they believed would be workable, they began trying to fit it to the newly introduced Zuni 5-inch rocket . They presented it in 1951 and it became an official project
25696-505: The sea frames and modules were resolved. In August 2013, the USN revealed plans to reduce the procurement rate in 2016. A 2012 report by Rear Admiral Samuel Perez , USN, found that the ships lacked the manpower and firepower to complete the missions required by regional combatant commanders. The report found that the LCS is "ill-suited for combat operations against anything but" small, fast boats not armed with anti-ship missiles. It also found that
25872-403: The seeker is mounted on a trainable platform on the launcher and the operator keeps it pointed in the general direction of the target manually, often using a small telescope. The seeker does not track the target, but the missile, often aided by flares to provide a clean signal. The same guidance signals are generated and sent to the missile via thin wires or radio signals, guiding the missile into
26048-410: The seeker's mirror is tilted at 5 degrees, and the missile is tracking a target that is currently centered in front of the missile. As the mirror spins, it causes the image of the target to be reflected in the opposite direction, so in this case the image is moving in a circle 5 degrees away from the reticle's centerline. That means that even a centered target is creating a varying signal as it passes over
26224-726: The ship was managed by Lockheed's Maritime Systems and Sensors (MS2) division, directed by Fred Moosally . On 23 September 2006, LCS-1 was christened and launched at the Marinette Marine shipyard. On 19 January 2006, the keel for the General Dynamics trimaran, USS Independence , was laid at the Austal USA shipyards in Mobile, Alabama. LCS-2 was launched 30 April 2008. In 2007, the U.S. Navy canceled contracts to build LCS-3 of Lockheed Martin and LCS-4 of General Dynamics and Austal USA, citing failure to control cost overruns . Subsequently,
26400-424: The ship, made possible by its low cost. The concept of a manned expendable warship was contentious and the idea was not picked up. When Donald Rumsfeld was made Secretary of Defense in early 2001, he promised transformational approaches and doing jobs with fewer people. In October 2001, Cebrowski was assigned to head the Pentagon's new Office of Force Transformation, shortly after which Admiral Vernon Clark canceled
26576-508: The ships lacked robust communications systems and a USN review "uncovered classified deficiencies" in the ship's cyberdefenses . At a hearing on 25 July 2013, the House Armed Services Committee's seapower subcommittee argued with Vice Admiral Richard W. Hunt on how the LCS would be employed if tensions with North Korea or China led to a confrontation in the Western Pacific. Hunt said the ships are designed in accordance with
26752-666: The ships were not expected to operate after being hit. The Navy acknowledged that their failure to communicate clearly that the experimental and developmental nature of the first two ships caused a perception that the overall LCS program was in worse shape. A GAO report in July 2014 found that the annual cost to operate an LCS was $ 79 million, compared to $ 54 million to operate a larger frigate. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus pointed out that new vessels traditionally start off costing more to operate because of difficulties with building and testing ships simultaneously; GAO reports of new warships since
26928-543: The ships' organic weapons systems, the surface warfare package includes two 30 mm gun systems, a counter-boat missile system, two 11-meter rigid hull inflatable boats (RHIBs), and weapons deployed from MH-60 helicopters and MQ-8 Fire Scout UAVs. The surface warfare mission module is intended to deal with small boats and is called the "best swarm killer in the surface fleet". It includes two 30 mm gun mission modules manufactured by Teledyne Brown Engineering, Inc. The Navy's proposed budget for FY 2015 includes funding for
27104-405: The signal strength began to decrease, which it did when the missile passed the target. There was work on using a single sensor for both tasks instead of two separate ones. Other companies also picked up on the work by Eletroacustic and designed their own scanning methods. AEG and Kepka of Vienna used systems with two movable plates that continually scanned horizontally or vertically, and determined
27280-576: The spinning-disk system. In the post-war era, as the German developments became better known, a variety of research projects began to develop seekers based on the PbS sensor. These were combined with techniques developed during the war to improve accuracy of otherwise inherently inaccurate radar systems, especially the conical scanning system. One such system developed by the US Army Air Force (USAAF), known as
27456-457: The support ship HNLMS Karel Doorman and its new anti-submarine warfare frigates. The Canadian Government on 28 June 2024 when announcing the River-class destroyers published a fact sheet that showed the Rolling Airframe Missile. Replacing the previously selected CAMM for the close in defence role. Infrared homing Infrared homing is a passive weapon guidance system which uses
27632-500: The systems cannot be overhauled, and other weight reduction ideas need to be implemented, such as lightening sensors and using composites in the handling system. Plans for the package shifted dramatically in 2011 when it was decided not to use the RMMV, used in the MCM package, in favor of an "in stride" capability. The ASW elements were chosen as cost-effective COTS sensors, so weight reduction needs by between 15 and 25 percent have been planned for since their selection for integration onto
27808-407: The target is moving very slowly relative to the missile and the missile quickly aligns itself to the target. It was not appropriate for air-to-air use where the velocities were greater and smoother control motion was desired. In this case, the system was changed only slightly so the modulating disk was patterned in a cardioid which blanked out the signal for more or less time depending on how far from
27984-483: The target to move out of the FOV and be lost to the seeker. To be effective for guidance to the lethal radius, tracking angles of perhaps one degree are ideal, but to be able to continually track the target safely, FOVs on the order of 10 degrees or more are desired. This situation leads to the use of a number of designs that use a relatively wide FOV to allow easy tracking, and then process the received signal in some way to gain additional accuracy for guidance. Generally,
28160-448: The target to provide false heat sources. That works only if the pilot is aware of the missile and deploys the countermeasures on time. The sophistication of modern seekers has rendered these countermeasures increasingly ineffective. The first IR devices were experimented with during World War II . During the war, German engineers were working on heat-seeking missiles and proximity fuses but did not have time to complete development before
28336-465: The target, or in the case of later devices, an image. Guidance was entirely manual by an operator looking at the image. There were a number of efforts in Germany during the war to produce a true automatic seeker system, both for anti-aircraft use as well as against ships. These devices were still in development when the war ended; although some were ready for use, there had been no work on integrating them with
28512-414: The transparent portion of the chopper is aligned vertically at the target at 12 o'clock becomes visible. The sensor continues to see the target until the chopper reaches 3 o'clock. A signal generator produces an AC waveform that had the same frequency as the rotational rate of the disk. It is timed so the waveform reaches its maximum possible positive voltage point at the 12 o'clock position. Thus, during
28688-450: The two LCS variants. Each is slightly smaller than the U.S. Navy's earlier Oliver Hazard Perry -class frigate but larger than Cyclone -class patrol ships . Each has the capabilities of a small assault transport , including a flight deck and hangar for housing two SH-60 or MH-60 Seahawk helicopters, a stern ramp for operating small boats, and the cargo volume and payload to deliver a small assault force with fighting vehicles to
28864-485: The war ended. Truly practical designs did not become possible until the introduction of conical scanning and miniaturized vacuum tubes during the war. Anti-aircraft IR systems began in earnest in the late 1940s, but the electronics and the entire field of rocketry were so new that they required considerable development before the first examples entered service in the mid-1950s. The early examples had significant limitations and achieved very low success rates in combat during
29040-530: Was appointed to investigate "challenges identified". Twenty more bunks were installed to allow for a larger crew. In 2013, Captain Kenneth Coleman, the U.S. Navy's requirements officer for the program, identified the LCS as being especially vulnerable to tactical aircraft armed with standoff anti-ship missiles. Vice Admiral Thomas H. Copeman III is reported to be considering an upsized "Super" LCS, with space to install needed firepower, because he noted that
29216-432: Was based on, with the guidance system and fuse suffering continual failure. As Vietnam revealed the terrible performance of existing missile designs, a number of efforts began to address them. In the US, minor upgrades to the Sidewinder were carried out as soon as possible, but more broadly pilots were taught proper engagement techniques so they would not fire as soon as they heard the missile tone, and would instead move to
29392-409: Was commissioned in Mobile, Alabama. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that deploying the first two ships will delay the overall program because these two ships were not available for testing and development so changes may have to be made in the second pair of ships during construction instead of in advance. The U.S. Navy responded that "Early deployment brought LCS operational issues to
29568-540: Was commissioned on 8 November 2008 in Veteran's Park , Milwaukee , Wisconsin . The second ship, the trimaran USS Independence (LCS-2) , was commissioned on 16 January 2010, in Mobile, Alabama . In 2012, ADM Jonathan W. Greenert stated that the LCS would be deployed to Africa in place of destroyers and cruisers. In 2013 and 2014, the Navy's requirement for LCSs was progressively cut from 55 to 32 vessels in favor of
29744-468: Was developed in response to concerns about the performance of gun-based systems against modern supersonic sea-skimming anti-ship missiles. It was designed as a companion self-defense system to Phalanx. The RIM-116 is in service on several American and 30 German warships. All newly laid German Navy warships will be equipped with the RAM, such as the modern Braunschweig -class corvettes, which mount two RAM launchers per ship. The Greek Navy has equipped
29920-412: Was fed directly to the control surfaces, causing rapid flicking motions to bring the missile back into alignment, a control system known as "bang-bang". Bang-bang controls are extremely inefficient aerodynamically, especially as the target approaches the centerline and the controls continually flick back and forth with no real effect. This leads to the desire to either smooth out these outputs, or to measure
30096-582: Was going to be a better solution. Nevertheless, Frederick Lindemann , Winston Churchill 's favorite on the Tizard Committee , remained committed to IR and became increasingly obstructionist to the work of the Committee who were otherwise pressing for radar development. Eventually they dissolved the Committee and reformed, leaving Lindemann off the roster, and filling his position with well known radio expert Edward Victor Appleton . In Germany, radar research
30272-456: Was more important. The US eventually bowed out of the program, and instead adapted the new seekers developed for ASRAAM on yet another version of the Sidewinder, the AIM-9X. This so extends its lifetime that it will have been in service for almost a century when the current aircraft leave service. ASRAAM did, eventually, deliver a missile that has been adopted by a number of European forces and many of
30448-518: Was not given nearly the same level of support as in the UK, and competed with IR development throughout the 1930s. IR research was led primarily by Edgar Kutzscher at the University of Berlin working in concert with AEG . By 1940 they had successfully developed one solution; the Spanner Anlage (roughly "Peeping Tom system") consisting of a detector photomultiplier placed in front of the pilot, and
30624-467: Was not specified, but sources say it will be both the Harpoon and NSM, each ship equipped with only one model of missile. The directive calls for up to eight missiles, likely in two quad packs, to be installed on box launchers as a standalone system without requiring full integration into the LCS combat system. On 19 July 2016, Coronado conducted a live-fire missile test of a Block 1C Harpoon missile; although
30800-564: Was so effective that aircraft hurried to add flare countermeasures, which led to another minor upgrade to the M model to better reject flares. The L and M models would go on to be the backbone of Western air forces through the end of the Cold War era. An even larger step was taken by the Soviets with their R-73 , which replaced the K-13 and others with a dramatically improved design. This missile introduced
30976-615: Was the DD-21 , a large coastal warship that could absorb hits. Two Navy strategists, retired Captain Wayne Hughes and Vice Admiral Art Cebrowski, refined an opposing Streetfighter concept for a 1,000-ton small, specialized, and heavily armed vessel costing just $ 90 million (2001 dollars). Being small, light and numerous, the Streetfighter was envisioned as a "single-serving" ship to be abandoned once it suffered battle damage deemed "fatal" to
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