The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) is the first of a new family of surface ships for the US Navy. The LCS is a fast, highly maneuverable, networked surface combat ship,

Q:   What is the mission of the LCS?
LCS is specifically designed to defeat “anti-access” threats in shallow, coastal water regions known as the littorals. Such threats include fast surface craft, quiet diesel submarines and mines.

Q:   What capabilities will the LCS have that its predecessors do not ?

The modular design of LCS makes this small, fast ship extremely versatile. LCS will be equipped with specialized mission packages. Consisting of unmanned vehicles and on and off board sensors, mission packages are designed for different tactical situations such as mine warfare, undersea warfare or surface warfare. LCS will be able to swap-out these mission packages, allowing the ship to reconfigure as needed. LCS will also perform a variety of other missions including high-speed transit, maritime interdiction operations, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) and anti-terrorism/ force protection missions. LCS will also support Special Operations Forces and homeland defense as required.

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Programmatic
Q:   What is the status of the LCS program?

The Navy awarded contracts to two industry teams, one led by Lockheed Martin and the other led by General Dynamics, to develop final system designs. The LCS Flight 0 contracts, which include options for detail design and construction of up to two ships (of each type) funded between FY 2005-07, have been awarded to both industry teams. Construction is underway on both designs.

Keel laying for Independence (LCS 2) was completed on January 19, 2006. Keel laying for Freedom (LCS 1) was completed on June 1, 2005.

The General Dynamics LCS Core Mission System team held an Industry Day on May 31, 2006. The Industry Day was held as a way to conduct an open competition to identify the best combat system capabilities, shipboard electronics and software for the third General Dynamics LCS and follow-on ships.

Q:    What are the upcoming milestones?

The General Dynamics LCS team will complete construction of the ship in October 2007.

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Hull
Q:   Why did you choose a trimiran hull over other options?

The trimiran hull enables us to have a wider operational envelope with improved sea keeping, speed, endurance and stability. It permits concurrent helicopter and unmanned vehicle operations and quick missile module changes. The ship has a large growth margin with larger, usable space and reserve buoyancy.

Q:    What are the different modules?

The mission modules will be able to be changed, tested and working within 24 hours. Mission systems include mine warfare systems, anti-submarine systems and anti-surface warfare systems. The mission modules may be integrated into standard-sized containers that can be installed in the ship and other systems will be transferred onto the ship on pallets. The mission systems will be connected to the ship's network and communicate with the other ship systems and to other surface ships and aircraft. The General Dynamics LCS has the capacity to hold more than one module, due to our hull’s availability and growth margin.

Q:   Where is the ship being built?
The hull is being constructed by Austral in Australia and will be put into final production at their facility in Mobile, Ala.

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Combat Systems - Open Architecture
Q:   How does General Dynamics define Open Architecture?

A technical infrastructure that uses strict industry standards, commercial available products and published interfaces, to enable a business model that prevents any contractor from locking a customer into proprietary systems that shut-out competitors and limit customer access to alternatives. Dependencies on any specific hardware and software products are eliminated.

Q:   Ok, but what is Open Architecture?

Imagine that your laptop wireless network card breaks. You can walk into any electronics or computer store and pick up a number of different wireless cards – Netgear, Cisco, etc. You may even research to find out which card is the best for you – is it the cheapest? the fastest? the smallest?. Then, you select the best card that fits your specific needs.

U.S. military forces do not have the ability to select the new best piece of technology to upgrade a faulty piece of a system. Currently, proprietary systems control most of our forces’ technologies. Fixing a faulty piece requires a purchase of the same, outdated equipment. Upgrades require an entirely new system. This makes upgrades costly and inefficient. Would you want to choose between a wireless card from 1999 or a whole new computer?

Q:   How does Open Architecture help the industry?

Open Architecture creates a separation between individual software applications, making it possible to incorporate an upgrade functionality at a level that fosters innovation and competition.

Q:    How can you determine whether a platform truly uses General Dynamics’ definition of Open Architecture?

General Dynamics provides the following litmus test: Any software or system designer working with published data formats can write applications that function on the architecture without the designer becoming a subcontractor to the developer of the open architecture.

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General Dynamics Team
Q:   Is your team in place?
Yes. Through our open business model, General Dynamics has brought together the best in the industry to design the Littoral Combat Ship.

Q:   Who is on the GD LCS team?
General Dynamics' best of breed team is led by Bath Iron Works, a wholly-owned General Dynamics subsidiary. Other team members include Austal USA, of Mobile, Ala.; General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, of Arlington, Va.; L-3 Communications of Leesburg, Va.; BAE Systems, Rockville, Md.; Maritime Applied Physics Corporation, Baltimore, Md.; Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems, Baltimore, Md.; and three other General Dynamics companies: Armament and Technical Products (Burlington, Vt.), Electric Boat (Groton, Conn.) and General Dynamics Canada (Ottawa, Ontario).

Q:   How are roles defined for your teammates?
General Dynamics best of breed team is led by Bath Iron Works, a wholly-owned General Dynamics subsidiary. Austal USA, of Mobile, Ala., a subsidiary of Australian shipbuilder Austal Ships, is supporting final design efforts for the team's aluminum and steel trimaran warship. General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, of Arlington, Va., is leading the ship's open-architecture based Core Mission System design and integration from its Pittsfield, Mass. facility.

Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems will provide the Integrated Combat Management System (ICMS), BAE Systems Electronic Systems will provide the radio communications system and L-3 Communications the automated ship control system. General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products (Burlington, Vt.) will integrate legacy and new weapons systems .