Littoral combat ship open ocean anti-submarine warfare

Abstract

This capstone explored the littoral combat ship (LCS) and its potential to fulfill the anti-submarine warfare (ASW) mission for open ocean escort of high value assets. A systems engineering approach was used to develop requirements and implement modeling and simulation through a clearly defined prime directive and concept of operations, measures of effectiveness, and measures of performance. The effort was concentrated on the detection, identification and tracking variables of the ASW mission kill chain with an emphasis on active sonar. Data was entered into a Zwicky morphological box and a Pugh matrix to assess candidate solutions in an analysis of alternatives. To address Department of Defense fiscal constraints, the LCS will allow coverage for a wider spectrum of anti-submarine threats in a theoretically less costly platform than traditional nuclear submarines. The ability for the U.S. Navy to maintain its open ocean dominance now and into the foreseeable future will depend on new and innovative threat capability designs. The modular concept of the LCS platform and its agile performance make it a candidate to satisfy a lower cost ASW mission platform while addressing the changing complexity of threat detection, identification and tracking of enemy subsurface threats. Network fusion and connectivity, integrated sensor capabilities and an eccentric mix of subsurface and aerial surveillance may be combined to meet the requirements for a reliable ASW platform. The LCS could provide ASW escort capability to allow high value units or non-combatants the ability to safely transit the open ocean.