End of missile program may force LCS overhaul - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

End of missile program may force LCS overhaul

An Army plan to cancel an over-budget, poorly performing missile would cost the Navy’s littoral combat ship one of its main weapons, leaving the surface fleet scrambling for something to take its place.

Top Army acquisition officials want to cancel the Non-Line-Of-Sight missile, a small, short-range surface-to-surface weapon that was planned for use by soldiers on land and the LCS at sea. The missiles are too expensive and missed several targets in early tests, so the Army wants to cut its losses and has asked the Pentagon to kill the program.

Where does that leave the Navy?

Fleet planners counted on NLOS to help LCS crews fight off the swarms of small-boat attacks that planners fear are the threats of tomorrow, especially in the Persian Gulf. Both LCS designs included enclosures specifically for NLOS launchers, and officials with Naval Sea Systems Command counted on the weapon being finished in time for LCS to become operational.

Now that it hasn’t — and may disappear altogether — it isn’t clear what happens next.

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