Sea patrol, escort* and other colonial type duties are exactly what the LCS are good for as is.
The Independence class has a severe hull defect. One can't operate in Sea State 4. The modular load out was scrapped.
The Freedom Class is still having problems with the combining gear so it can't approach its max speed.
A small, cheap to build and run ship capable of multiple roles sounds great for power projection and sales.
LCS could have been a good seller and allowed for export sales of complete ships but both classes have fallen far short of any expectation. Would have been great to have the F-15 of the seas, where the newest version, F-15EX, is really just a compiling of upgrades paid for by other customers.
Congress cutting the Zumwalt production to save a buck is costing them a fuck ton more money to restart the Burke line. As the builders and supply chain had shut down the Burke line were set up and ready to make Zumwalts. Which right now and for the immediate future the individual one off Franken Burke II/IIIs are more expensive until the every part of the production line and supply chain have been rebuilt. So the actual Burke III production can start.
The Zumwalt has two guns without ammo and 80 VLS cells. The upgraded Burke has 96 cells and a working 5" gun of questionable utility. Potential new shells not withstanding. As a future weapons platform the Zumwalt may have worked with enough cash, it had the space and power capacity. There is a broader need of getting working ships out to sea and the Block III Burkes are impressive ships. I think one of them has more VLS cells than the seven ships of the Russian Pacific Fleet combined.
Looked up the Block III, looks like one was launched from Ingalls and commissioning is expected in 2023. Two more have keels laid at Ingalls and Bath is "Under construction"
If you have a good report on restarting Burke production please share.
The US Navy has been attempting to keep a technological edge but it's attempts at new classes have been hitting ditches over and over. They need a hull with the space and power production capable of running next gen systems and the only one that seems close to moving forward is the Ford Class which is years behind schedule and the only reason it's nearly done is because they pulled a bunch of parts from the next Ford class, delaying it further. This lead to the refueling of the Truman and an extra couple billion on the balance sheet.
At least it isn't the Kuznestov.
EDIT: wording
www.dw.com
