Fast Attack Craft

Unmanned systems, radar, and electric vehicles unveiled at first day of IDEF 2025

Host nation Turkey took advantage of the Istanbul exhibition, with defense firms showing off a host of new tech.

First Combat Laser For Navy Warship: Lockheed HELIOS

WASHINGTON: By 2020, for the first time, the US Navy will put a lethal laser on a warship. “This is a very big deal,” said Mark Gunzinger of the Center for Strategic & Budgetary Assessments, a longtime advocate of lasers. “It is clear evidence of the progress that has been made over the last several years […]

By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.

Global

Hey Navy, LCS Is Too Big To Hide

The debate over the operational relevance of the controversial Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) continues. The Navy has again spoken up for the much-maligned platform, suggesting to Breaking Defense that the LCS could operate in the Pacific like the PT boats of World War II or cavalry units in a Napoleonic army. Rear Adm. Donald Gabrielson said […]

By Ben Ho Wan Beng

Naval Warfare

LCS Grows Teeth, At Last…

SURFACE NAVY ASSOCIATION: The Littoral Combat Ship is finally about to get the capabilities envisioned for it at the start, 15 years ago, Navy leaders told the annual conference here. The four much-criticized ships now in service have boast little firepower: a 57 millimeter deck gun; two 30mm autocannon, and a MH-60 helicopter (with varying […]

By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.

Naval Warfare

Austal Pushes Big Missiles For Small Ships: LCS & VLS

NATIONAL HARBOR: How much firepower can fit on the Navy’s smallest warship? With the Chinese and Russian navies on the rise, American admirals want more “distributed lethality” from everything in the fleet, especially the controversial Littoral Combat Ship. Here at the Navy League’s annual Sea-Air-Space conference, the manufacturers of the two very different versions of […]

By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.

Naval Warfare

Pentagon Tester Tells Navy LCS Test Was Plenty Fair

UPDATED with full DOT&E memo WASHINGTON: On Friday, a Navy official told us a critical test report on the embattled Littoral Combat Ship was “unfair.” This afternoon, we found out the Pentagon’s independent test office has already circulated a coldly scathing response. Defense Secretary Ash Carter has ordered the Navy to cut the LCS in favor of […]

By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.

Naval Warfare

LCS Test Vs. Fast Attack Boats ‘Unfair’: Missile Missing, Navy Says

PENTAGON: “Unfair!” That, in a word, is the Navy’s response to a Director of Operational Test & Evaluation report saying the controversial Littoral Combat Ship had trouble defending itself against Iranian-style swarms of fast attack boats. Yes, a Navy official told me, in the test some “enemy” boats got dangerously close to the USS Coronado […]

By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.

Naval Warfare

LCS Can Too Fight Russia, China: Navy Leaders

WASHINGTON: Is the Littoral Combat Ship a real warship? That question has bedeviled the small, sleek, lightly armed ships for years. Now it’s taken on new urgency as the Defense Department and the Navy both refocus on high-intensity, high-tech warfighting against “great powers” — i.e. China and Russia. Defense Secretary Ash Carter wants to cut […]

By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.

Naval Warfare

Excalibur Goes To Sea: Raytheon Smart Artillery Shoots Back

SURFACE NAVY ASSOCIATION: Paul Daniels of Raytheon is a bit miffed. Yesterday, prominent defense commentator Loren Thompson wrote an article in Forbes extolling the technology Daniels works on, precision-guided cannon shells — particularly the products of BAE Systems. But Daniels doesn’t work for BAE. He works on Raytheon’s Excalibur smart round, fired 800 times in anger in […]

By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.

Naval Warfare

Navy Needs Both LCS Versions For War With China, Iran; Navy UnderSec Defends Program

WASHINGTON: While the Littoral Combat Ship is not suited for the front lines of a war with China, it would provide vital protection to US supply lines in such conflict, said Under Secretary of the Navy Robert Work, and against Iran, LCS would be in the battle from “day one,” with eight LCSs ultimately operating […]

By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.