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Lockheed Martin pitches light warship concept for Gulf radar picket
November 17th, 2009 | Uncategorized | Posted by Pierre Tran
Lockheed Martin has presented a concept of the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) adapted to carry the Aegis combat system to a number of Gulf states, including the United Arab Emirates, George Elghossain, international business development director, said Nov. 17.
Dubbed Surface Combat Ship, the 3,000 ton LCS vessel would be equipped with the Spy 1 radar and Aegis combat system to add greater surveillance capabilities.
An advanced seaborne radar could be relevant to militaries in the Gulf region because of interest in building an integrated ballistic missile defense system.
Adding the Spy 1 sensor to the LCS vessel would provide long range search and track, and cueing of missiles to intercept enemy threats, Elghossain said.
“There have been discussions with the UAE Navy on this ship,” he said. The UAE is building the Baynuna class of warship, which is smaller than the LCS.
The company has held talks with other Gulf counties including Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Navies of Brazil, Japan and a number of other nations have expressed interest in the Surface Combat Ship.
Given fears in the region of a possible missile attack from Iran, a deployment of the Surface Combat Ship in the narrow waters of the Gulf would provide early warning of a missile launch and allow early destruction in the upper atmosphere by the Theater High Altitude Area Defense system or at lower altitude by the Patriot PAC3 or other weapon. The UAE is in the process of acquiring the THAA.
The LCS is bigger than a corvette and smaller than a frigate, which would be about 5,000 tons.
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