The LCS is Dead. Long Live the LCS Hulls

After sticker shock for our so-called low end warship that left us with under-armed and under-protected ships that we couldn't afford to build modular weapons systems to make them real warships, we will truncate production and replace them with modified LCS hulls.

The Navy's Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) will live on, sort of:

After rigorous review and analysis, today I accepted the Navy's recommendation to build a new small surface combatant (SSC) ship based on upgraded variants of the LCS. The new SSC will offer improvements in ship lethality and survivability, delivering enhanced naval combat performance at an affordable price. ...

The more lethal and survivable SSC will meet a broader set of missions across the range of military operations, and addresses the Navy's top war-fighting priorities. It will feature an improved air defense radar; air defense decoys; a new, more effective electronic warfare system; an over-the-horizon anti-ship missile; multi-function towed array sonar; torpedo defenses; and additional armor protection.

As multi-purpose warships, perhaps the fantasy that these are green or even--horrors--brown water ships will be quietly forgotten.

Without a market for the container-housed modules to equip LCS, I guess we can't afford to stockpile such modules to create Modularized Auxiliary Cruisers.