Breaking news
Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Surface Warfare Package Completes Live-Fire Test.
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Naval
Forces News - USA |
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Littoral
Combat Ship (LCS) Surface Warfare Package Completes Live-Fire Test |
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The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Surface Warfare Mission Package successfully
completed the second phase of its developmental testing, the Naval Sea
Systems Command announced Nov. 7. USS
Fort Worth (LCS 3) conducted the testing at the Naval Air Warfare
Center Weapons Division Point Mugu range off the coast of California,
October 1-25. The objective of the testing was to prove the performance
capabilities for surface warfare missions, validate recent upgrades
and correct problems found in previous testing. |
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 USS Fort Worth (LCS 3), Freedom class Littoral Combat Ship Picutre: US Navy |
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Preliminary
analyses of the results indicate that overall test objectives were achieved,
and the ship and mission package operated as expected. "The achievement of this at-sea test milestone demonstrates that the surface warfare package meets its requirements," said Capt. John Ailes, program manager for mission module integration for the Program Executive Office for Littoral Combat Ships. "It also shows the significant progress that the mission modules program has made toward providing an affordable surface warfare capability." The test events demonstrated the ship's ability to detect, track and simulate engagement of air and surface threats. The final exercise was a live-fire event, where the ship demonstrated the ability to defend itself against several attacking speed boats. These boats were identified as a threat by the ship's helicopter, which passed the information to the ship. Fort Worth then successfully engaged all targets with both the 30mm and the 57mm gun weapons systems, which reduced the attacking boats to smoking hulks. The Initial Operational Test and Evaluation for the surface warfare mission package will be conducted in early 2014, and will be the final step in achieving initial operational capability. The surface warfare mission package is designed to defeat small boat threats and also provides the capability for the ships to conduct maritime interdiction operations. The package consists of two 30mm guns, two 11-meter rigid hull inflatable boats, an MH-60R helicopter, a 19-person surface warfare detachment, and a 23-person aviation detachment. The LCS's permanent 57mm gun, and its speed and maneuverability, coupled with the 30mm guns of the SUW MP, provide the LCS a significant advantage over small boat threats. Link to Freedom class Littoral Combat Ship technical datasheet |