Report Says U.S. Navy, Coast Guard Should Swap Small-Ship Ideas
The U.S. Navy and Coast Guard small surface ship programs are too mature to combine, but each service could benefit from using the other’s designs, according to a report released July 17 by the Congressional Budget Office.
The Navy should consider buying a naval version of the Coast Guard’s Legend-class National Security Cutter for long-range, presence missions. The Northrop Grumman-built ships have a range of 12,000 miles at 8 knots without a reserve.
The Coast Guard could benefit from the Lockheed Martin version of the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship in two ways; first, to reduce technical risk on its Offshore Patrol Cutter program; second, to field a ship with a 40-plus-knot top speed that would be valuable for interdiction missions.
The report, “Options for Combining the Navy’s and the Coast Guard’s Small Combatant Programs,” also says Lockheed is developing a longer-range “Coast Guard” version of its LCS that would be able to steam 6,300 miles at 10 knots with a 30 percent reserve. The base Navy LCS has a range of 3,500 knots at about 18 knots.
The report can be downloaded from: http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/104xx/doc10460/07-17-SmallCombatants.pdf
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