Originally Posted by
Lonewolf_50
I
Saw another article that pointed out how useless the USN's LCS ships are. They make up about one fifth of the surface fleet (by hull count) but are more or less not fit for purpose: just as many of us pointed out 20 years ago when that program went live. (For my money, they all ought to be either buried, like the Aussie NH-90, or sold/gifted to various coast guards around the world at a deep discount).
They can't be used in an op like the Red Sea op currently underway.
Why?
They can't knock a missile out of the sky. (Though they do have a nominal self defense capability).
Some of them can embark a helicopter, but for this case that's not much help.
This is not just a problem for the LCS. Many Western Navies frigates or even destroyers would have problems with the sophistication of the anti ship missiles now available to terrorist groups, especially anti ship ballistic missiles. I don't think the LCS as a concept is necessarily flawed, however it is unfortunately a case study in the abject failure of the Naval capability procurement process.