The LCS is frigate-sized due to the need for self-deployment and organic helo capability.
Most corvettes only have limited or no helo capabilities but typically can self-deploy.
Patrol boats typically have no helos and very limited self-deployment capability.
I agree though. Seems like we should be looking for a mothership/patrol-boat combination as part of the littoral solution.
That was what I meant about LCS trying to meet blue water and green/brown water requirements, and potentially succeeding at doing so, without providing a reliably useful vessel.
Many of the larger and more potent FAC/patrol boats (Flyvefisken, La Combattante, etc) actually have greater armament than a base-line LCS. Given the smaller size of such vessels, they are likely also less expensive and potentially grouped together, meaning that a single LCS might not be able to engage safely. The ability to operate several helicopters I believe is good, but as I understand it, that comes at the expense of operating other mission modules due to weight limits. And even carrying 3 helicopters at once, they might not always be available, either due to simultaneous ops or maintenance reqs.
Given that there apparently are weight restrictions on the LCS modules, I have to question the effectiveness relative to risk, of taking a LCS close inshore. Aside from potentially engaging a similarly armed and capable green water ship, there are then the risks posed to a vessel from land-based equipment like artillery, mortars and rockets. I could be mistaken, but I believe that a 57mm gun has a range of ~5 miles, well within the range of a 122mm artillery piece and likely within range of the larger mortars.
A scenario where I see problems with the LCS is from earlier this year, when 15 personnel from HMS Cornwall were seized by Iran while conducting boat searches in the Persian Gulf. If the HMS Cornwall had been an LCS-type vessel instead of a frigate, I think there would have been the same result (crew seized) and in a LCS 15 people is approximately 20% of the crew. Given the planned cost (US$200 mil/ea) and size/displacement of a LCS, I doubt that for the primary mission HMS Cornwall had (protect a petroleum terminal) more than one LCS would have been tasked with that role. For similar reasons, I doubt a separate LCS would have been strictly assigned to inspect/search vessels in Iraqi waters. Also, with the likely increase of the per ship cost (US$300 mil+/ea) I think it unlikely that two or more LCS would have been available to be deployed in such close proximity to each other. It's possible, if the LCS was configured to carry 3 helicopters, that a helicopter might have been available to intervene, unlike what happened with HMS Cornwall. As I remember it, HMS Cornwall's helicopter was returning or had just returned after getting the "all clear", if three helicopters were available, the ROE might have been different, where a heli stayed aloft as long a boarding boat & crew were away. It's also possible, given the max speed potentially available to a LCS that it might have been able to close or intercept the Iranian boats either before they reached the RN RHIBs, or before getting back to Iranian home waters. That would require going off station from the petroleum terminal, which might have placed that facility at an unacceptable risk.
A solution I like a bit better for something like this is indeed a mothership & patrol boat type combination. The mothership would be a large vessel suitable for ocean crossings, capable of carrying, deploying and supporting a number of small patrol boats (CB90 or similar) and providing a platform for operation of several helicopters. Depending on how far out one wished to carry the idea, it might make sense to include a command/air control centre, a 5in/127mm or 155mm AGS with ERGM, and SAM for point/area air defence. The mothership would in essence be a floating base that the operation assets like the patrol boats, SF or boarding teams, helicopters, etc would return to for recovery, repair, resupply and other support functions. Now, if mission modules could be effectively created for a smaller vessel like the CB90, that could also then potentially meet a number of different requirements. A small SSM launcher module carrying something like Penguin Mk 2, or Hellfire-M, another module could contain MCM equipment, and so on.
-Cheers
