Fleet Forces Commander visits NSWC Dahlgren

The commander of the U.S. Fleet Forces Command, Rear Adm. Kenneth Deutsch, was recently briefed on the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Surface Warfare Mission Package (SUW MP) during his visit to the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWCDD) at Naval Support Facility Dahlgren.

Doyle Green, NSWCDD SUW MP Project Manager, used a composite model of SUW MP to describe the components and their capabilities to Deutsch.

The LCS SUW MP is one of three interchangeable modules - anti-submarine warfare, surface warfare and mine warfare - designed to provide warfighters with capability in specific mission areas.

“A key component of the littoral combat ship surface warfare mission package is modularity,“ said Green after a July ceremony unveiling the mission module. “It allowed the Dahlgren engineering team to rapidly develop mission modules to a common set of interfaces in parallel with the LCS sea frames.“

The LCS will be able to swap out mission packages pierside in a matter of a day, adapting as the tactical situation demands. These ships will also feature advanced networking capability to share tactical information with other Navy aircraft, ships, submarines and joint units.

On July 11, NSWCDD engineers briefed over 280 visitors and demonstrated how SUW MP will integrate with LCS to rapidly detect, track and prosecute small-boat threats. This capability will enable on-scene commanders to protect local assets and move a force quickly through a strategic waterway.

Capabilities of SUW MP will include two 30mm Gun Mission Modules and Non Line of Sight - Launch System Mission Modules. The SUW MPs also include two Vertical Takeoff and Landing Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and an MH-60R helicopter.

“Our robust engineering team collaborated across warfare centers, agencies, services, and contractors,“ said Green. “As a result, the gun system developed for the Marine Corps and used on the LPD-17 will provide LCS with a significant capability.“

“One of our team's more exciting challenges was to develop software to effectively integrate the 30mm Gun Mission Modules with the LCS Combat Management Systems for both Seaframe variants“ added Mary Laanisto, NSWCDD SUW MP Application Software Lead. “This involved fielding a product that would provide tactical information and situational awareness displays for operators and the ship's Tactical Action Officer. It enables them to quickly correlate the ship's track data with optical sensors on the gun in order to de-conflict the intended targets with friendly or neutral shipping.“

The Mk 46 30mm gun system is a two-axis stabilized chain gun that can fire up to 250 rounds per minute. This system uses a forward-looking infrared sensor, a low light television camera and laser rangefinder with a closed-loop tracking system to optimize accuracy against small, high-speed surface targets.

The gun modules can be mounted in any of the Weapon Zones provided by each seaframe design to support different mission requirements. The guns will be normally fired remotely from the ship's command center, but can also be fired locally at the gun mount to provide flexibility and support a casualty mode of fire.

SUW MP is on schedule and budget for delivery to the U.S. Navy. The next phase commenced with software integration from the gun to the Mission Package Computing Environment and includes land based end-to-end testing of the gun at NSWCDD.

LCS is a fast, agile, focused-mission platform designed for operation in near-shore environments yet capable of open-ocean operation. It is designed to defeat asymmetric “anti-access“ threats such as mines, quiet diesel submarines and fast surface craft.

LCS 1 Freedom completed its acceptance trials and was delivered to the Navy on Sept. 18. Freedom is scheduled for commissioning on Nov. 8. The Navy christened LCS 2 Independence on Oct. 4 during a ceremony in Mobile, Ala.