The U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship is the butt of many jokes the likes of which will not be printed here due to the profanity.
It was spawned in the days of the Global War on Terror when a new small, fast, and “brown water” vessel could be used in anti-terror and anti-piracy missions against extremist groups.
Now it is a solution in search of a problem as the likelihood of great power war with large aircraft carrier strike groups is higher than ever. The LCS could be completely obsolete.
Littoral Combat Ship: Mine Countermeasure System Is the Answer
But the Littoral Combat Ship may be rising from the dead with an important new capability. The Navy believes it can be an anti-mine warfare platform while controlling unmanned surface vessels. Sea mines are an easy and cheap way for enemies to conduct area denial with “no-go” parts of the ocean where an explosive charge could damage or sink a friendly vessel.
Unmanned Surface Vehicles Can Do the Anti-Mine Job with Style
The Independence-class LCS USS Santa Barbara is the first ship to complete mine countermeasures with an uncrewed waterborne craft. The USS Santa Barbara thus adds an important new mission for the LCS – removing mines in a manner that is safe for live sailors. Using unmanned surface vessels has been a popular topic for armchair strategists and even civilian policy makers and uniform naval brass.
Deploying the LCS for mine countermeasures is not a new idea. The littoral ships have been conducting these types of missions since 2023 and initial operational capability to defeat mines with an LCS happened that year. The USS Canberra deployed the first mine countermeasures mission package in 2024. The USS Santa Barbara put more effort into the mission with successful qualification tests later that year.
Using the LCS with unmanned vessels to complete mine countermeasures should come in the second half of 2025 or 2026. The Navy is ready for this eventuality and is excited about the new capability.
“The United States has the privilege, and I would say the challenge, of being the first ones out of the gate and putting it into theater. I’m not saying we got it right, I’m saying we’re first out of the gate,” according to Captain Scott Hattaway, technical director of a naval mine countermeasures office.
Indo-Pacific Mine-Sweeping Is Needed Badly
The LCS mine countermeasures mission with unmanned vessels will be focused on the Indo-Pacific. This is where the threat of adversarial mines is the most worrisome. China is known for its anti-access/ area denial strategy and sea mines are an important aspect of this gambit. The People’s Liberation Army Navy has an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 maritime mines.
Later the LCS vessels with the new mine countermeasures mission package will deploy to the Middle East and will be fully capable by 2026. Iran could be a country that would depend on sea mines to attack U.S. civilian and military shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Plus, this type of warfare could threaten civilian vessels.
The LCS thus has a new role that could spell success in multiple combat theaters. The unmanned surface vessels are a novel way to fight enemy sea mines.
What Is a ‘Common Unmanned Surface Vessel?’
“The unmanned portion of the MCM mission module are Common Unmanned Surface Vessels (CUSVs) developed by Textron Systems, also known as the Fleet-class of USVs. These CUSVs can carry the AN/AQS-20C, a forward-look and side-scan sonar capable of locating sea mines, or the Unmanned Influence Sweep System (UISS) which adds acoustic and influence sweep capability to the CUSVs deployed by LCS motherships,” according to NavalNews.com.
This has to be the most sophisticated counter-mine system in the history of the Navy. Don’t forget the use of the MH-60S Seahawk mine warfare helicopter that features the AN/AES-1 Airborne Laser Mine Detection System (ALMDS). This is an important asset too.
Sea Drones Do Have Some Kinks
The Common Unmanned Surface Vessels are not perfect and they do have limitations. Since this is a new capability the unmanned seacraft do not fit easily on the LCS. Furthermore, once the LCS is dedicated to the countermine mission, the activity is set in stone and the ship becomes a dedicated asset for one mission only. This is a downside because the original idea behind the patrol ships was to toggle between different mission sets such as anti-piracy and anti-terror efforts.
However, this could be the final answer to critics who want to place the Littoral Combat Ships in the dust bin of history. The Navy wants to sell six of the retired vessels to other countries. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have declared them to be a boondoggle and other observers have criticized the LCS for not being relevant into the 2030s.
This mine countermeasures mission could be perfectly-tailored for the diminutive size but surprising speed of the ships. Using unmanned seacraft is an important technological advancement, so the LCS may finally have a mission it can be proud of.
About the Author: Dr. Brent M. Eastwood
Brent M. Eastwood, PhD is the author of Don’t Turn Your Back On the World: a Conservative Foreign Policy and Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare plus two other books. Brent was the founder and CEO of a tech firm that predicted world events using artificial intelligence. He served as a legislative fellow for U.S. Senator Tim Scott and advised the senator on defense and foreign policy issues. He has taught at American University, George Washington University, and George Mason University. Brent is a former U.S. Army Infantry officer. He can be followed on X @BMEastwood.
