The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) had too many ambitious goals to succeed.
I still think the LCS concept was valid. The failure of the class was in large part building the modules:
The LCS was intended to replace 30 larger Perry class frigates and 26 smaller mine warfare ships. That did not work out as planned because of delays in completing the task-specific mission modules that enabled an LCS to quickly install specialized equipment, which was accompanied by a team of specialists to operate it. This enabled an LCS to handle mine warfare, surface combat, air defense and so on. While the first LCS entered service in 2008, the first Mission Modules didn’t arrive until 2018 and none of these modules worked as originally planned. Not only were the modules all late, some were cancelled and all were way over budget because of a variety of problems navy planners did not anticipate, but could have if they had paid more attention to all the potential problems with developing these modules.
The LCS class is being pared down dramatically.
And without the modules, my modularized auxiliary cruiser concept falters in its full application.
With some luck, the modular concept will reappear in the future better for the failures of the LCS effort.
