SEA LANCE: Littoral Warfare Small Combatant System

Abstract

SEA LANCE is intended to act as the deployment mechanism for the Expeditionary Warfare Grid proposed as part of the Capabilities of the Navy after Next (CNANS) study by the Naval warfare Development Command. The Grid is a large number of sensors and, potentially, weapons that could be deployed in the water column off the shores of an adversary. The Grid would help to defeat the adversary's "anti-access" capability, ensuring continued US ability to gain access to contested littoral areas. The system consisting of SEA LANCE and the Grid would be capable of providing the deployability, flexibility, versatility, lethality and survivability necessary in dangerous littorals to give the operations commander then necessary situation al awareness and access assurance. The Grid and the SEA LANCE ships would operate in a Network Centric Warfare environment.