US Navy Will Deploy More Littoral Combat Ships to Indo-Pacific

 The U.S. Navy will surge the deployment to the Indo-Pacific of its fleet of littoral combat ships (LCS) this year even as the incoming administration of President Joe Biden is signaling it will move forward with the "Pivot to Asia" strategy of the Obama administration.

Among the most modern ships in the Navy, LCS' are ideally suited to operating in the Indo-Pacific because their shallow draft allows them to maneuver in waters with a depth of only four meters. Their shallow draft is well suited for Indo-Pacific operations due to the many shallow-water ports in the region that impede larger warships.

The Navy has funding to build 35 littoral combat ships. Of this total, 21 have been commissioned into the Navy and are operational. Four warships will be decommissioned starting 2022, however.

Vice Adm. Roy Kitchener, Commander, Naval Surface Forces, said the LCS warships assigned to Asia will lead the Navy's ongoing campaign to resolutely counter China's growing influence in the region. Chinese expansionism is being spearheaded by the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), which is becoming a formidable blue water navy.

Kitchener said the Navy has identified missions the LCS will fulfill in U.S. Seventh Fleet, the largest of the forward deployed Navy fleets.

Based at U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, the fleet commands up to 70 warships, 300 aircraft and 40,000 Navy, Marine Corps personnel, and Coast Guard support personnel.

"If you look at the things we want to do and the Seventh Fleet ... that's what (Vice Adm. William Merz, Commander, Seventh Fleet) wants to use them for," according to Kitchener. "And there's a lot of capability there. They're going to be on the front lines.

Kitchener said littoral combat ships are useful platforms, especially in the Pacific, where the Navy and Marine Corps are focused on littoral (or close to shore) operations in a contested environment and expeditionary advanced base operations.

USS  Gabrielle Giffords

Adm. Michael M. Gilday, Chief of Naval Operations, last week asserted he's committed to making good use of the Navy's 31 littoral combat ships.

The littoral combat ships that will be deployed to Asia will be among the most lethal in the fleet, said Gilday. LCS can bring a lethal capability to day-to-day competition at sea, said Gilday.

"I'm going to deliver that with LCS in this decade," vowed Gilday.

Every LCS will be armed with the Kongberg Naval Strike Missile (NSM), said Kitchener. He also said the Navy is continuing to study how to make the warships more lethal.

"I think it's going to become exciting," he said. "We've just got to deliver a sustained plan of how many we're going to get out there next year, maybe the following year. And we've got to meet that requirement."

NSM is long-range, precision-strike weapon anti-ship and land-attack missile that can find and destroy enemy ships from up to 185 kilometers away. It was designed specifically for littoral water ("brown water") scenarios.

Kitchener noted the USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS-10) that operated in the South China Sea in 2020 was the first LCS to get the missile, which is called the RGM-184A in Navy service. (Jan. 14, 2021)