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Expeditionary
Warships for the 21st Century
The San Antonio class is designed and built to fight. Its warfighting capabilities
include a state-of-the-art command and control suite, substantially increased
landing force vehicle lift capacity, a large flight deck, and advanced ship
survivability features that enhance its ability to operate in the unforgiving
littoral environment. The deployment of LPD 17s will provide each naval
expeditionary force with greatly enhanced operational flexibility. The LPD 17
can operate as part of an Amphibious or Joint Task Force; serve as an
integral part of a three-ship ARG; or deploy as part of a larger ESG – each
organized to accomplish a broad-range of military objectives. Alternatively,
if the mission requires, the LPD 17 with its landing forces may detach and
operate independently for short periods of time to accomplish lower-risk missions.
This mission flexibility will expand future commanders’ courses of action by
providing an improved capability to cover multiple areas of responsibility
with the right force at the right objective.
The LPD 17 class of ships is a key element of the Navy’s seabase
transformation. Collectively, these ships functionally replace the LPD 4, LSD
36, LKA 113, and LST 1179 classes of amphibious ships providing the Navy and
Marine Corps with modern, seabased platforms that are networked, survivable,
and built to operate with 21 st century transformational platforms. Each LPD
17 has over 23,600 square feet of vehicle storage space, more than double
that of the LPD 4 class ships it will replace. When the last ship reaches the
fleet, the Navy’s expeditionary force will have the versatile lift it needs
to support forward presence operations and successfully implement the OMFTS
and STOM concepts.
The LPD 17 is the first amphibious ship designed to accommodate the Marine
Corps’ “mobility triad” – Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV), landing craft
air cushion (LCAC), and the Marine Corps’ new tilt-rotor MV-22 Osprey – that
will perform high-speed, long-range tactical-lift operations. Just as
“littoral” has come to mean operations that begin well “over-the-horizon” (OTH),
hundreds of miles from an adversary’s coastline, the “mobility triad” will
ensure our ability to “reach out and touch someone” hundreds of miles inland,
at increased speeds.
Designed to fight, the San Antonio Class’ warfighting capabilities include a
state-of-the-art command and control suite, substantially increased vehicle
lift capacity, a large flight deck, and advanced ship survivability features
that enhance its ability to operate in the unforgiving littoral environment.
The deployment of LPD 17s will provide each naval expeditionary force with
greatly enhanced operational flexibility. The LPD 17 can operate as part of
an Amphibious Task Force - the "workhorse" of a three-ship ARG -
organized to accomplish a broad range of military objectives; or as an
element of a "Split-ARG" that has the LPD 17 detached and operating
as a single ship, supporting lower-risk operations. Furthermore, it has the
warfighting potential to fully operate within an Expeditionary Strike Group
or perhaps serve as a “mother ship” to planned Littoral Combat Ships. This
mission flexibility fully expands the ARG's or ESG’s area of influence by
providing an improved capability to cover multiple areas of responsibility,
while responding to several crises simultaneously.
Improved LIFT - strategic and tactical - is critical to the sustainment of
power projection operations. The San Antonio Class is the functional
replacement for four Classes of less capable amphibious ships equipped with
1970's and early 1980's technology, including its predecessor, the USS Austin
(LPD-4) Class. Each LPD 17 has 25,000 square feet of vehicle storage space,
more than the larger Wasp (LHD-1)-Class multipurpose assault ship and double
that of the LPD-4. When the required twelfth ship (LPD-28) reaches the fleet,
the Navy's amphibious force will have the enhanced lift it needs to support
forward presence operations and successfully implement the OMFTS and STOM
concepts.
The LPD 17 is the first amphibious ship designed to accommodate the Marine
Corps' "mobility triad" - Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicles
(AAAV), Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC), and the Marine Corps' new
tilt-rotor MV-22 Osprey - for high-speed, long-range tactical-lift
operations. Just as "littoral" has come to mean operations that
begin well "over-the-horizon" (OTH), some 600 miles from an
adversary's coastline, the "mobility triad" will ensure our ability
to "reach out and touch someone" 200 miles inland, at revolutionary
speeds.
America's warships are designed and built to operate in harm's way. Even in
peacetime, the threat of attack always lurks in the shadows. The
multi-mission San Antonio Class is designed and engineered to operate either
as a critical part of a group, or alone, operating forward, in hostile
waters. The LPD 17 has a reduced vulnerability in the littoral environment by
minimizing radar cross section signature using a streamlined topside design.
Combining this significant improvement with state-of-the-art command and
control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and
reconnaissance (C4ISR) capabilities and upgraded self-defense systems
significantly improves the ship's ability to defeat airborne threats. The LPD
17 design reflects a revolutionary emphasis on shipboard survivability
through an organization that will support both traditional manning and
core/flex approaches, a focus on vulnerability reduction, and 21st-century
survivability features. Never before has a design meshed these attributes
into such a comprehensive approach to optimizing ship survivability.
Although LPD 17 is not flagship-configured, it does contain enhanced command
and control features and a robust communications suite that greatly improve
its ability to support embarked landing forces, Marine Air Ground Task
Forces, Joint or friendly forces. The ship's Combat Information Center,
Marine Tactical Logistics Center, mini-Intelligence Center, and Troop
Operations command and control spaces are equipped with large screen displays
and dedicated computer consoles. Removable "smart bulkheads"
integrate these spaces to create synergy and the shared knowledge needed to
improve operational agility. A separate mission planning space provides the
assets for crisis action planning critical to Special Operations Capable
missions.
The heart of the ship's defensive capability is a quick reaction Ship
Self-Defense System (SSDS) that correlates sensor information, provides
threat identification and evaluation, assesses own-ship defense readiness,
and recommends optimal tactical defense responses against anti-ship missile
and aircraft attacks in a cluttered conflict environment. Information flow
will be equally state-of-the-art, as the LPD 17 is the first U.S. Navy ship
to be equipped with a fiber-optic Shipboard Wide Area Network (SWAN). The
SWAN connects all ship systems, combat systems, sensors, and command and
control nodes with the ship's warfighting consoles to provide the essential
real-time decision-making information required for fighting the ship
effectively.
Employment of the "mobility triad" affords LPD 17, current ARGs,
and future ESGs with an OTH maneuver capability that extends their operating
range and improves threat reaction time. Highly capable air- and
surface-search radar systems, the revolutionary Cooperative Engagement Capability
(CEC), the Rolling Airframe Missile system, and the Mk 53 Nulka Decoy
Launching System present an impressive array of self-defense capabilities. An
upgrade path has been defined to accommodate future advanced radar systems
for long-term horizon-search and fire-control requirements on LPD 17 in the
21st century.
The ship will carry two high rate-of-fire Mk 46 Mod 1 automated 30mm Close-in
Gun System mounts. The Mk 46 provides long-range lethality while engaging
small, high-speed, surface targets. The LPD 17 design also reserves space and
weight for adding improvements such as a Vertical Launcher for the Evolved
Sea-Sparrow Missile System to boost future capability.
The San Antonio Program has been structured to ensure seamless integration of
Navy and Marine Corps assets. With the decision to involve the war fighter
from the keel up, the LPD 17 Team embraced a "Design for Ownership"
philosophy to interact with the fleet's operating forces - the Navy and
Marine Corps operators, maintainers, and trainers who will ultimately use the
ship. This unique engineering approach injected warfighter inputs into the
development process early on, shaping every element of the ship's program,
while simultaneously addressing the warship's fundamental functionality to
fine-tune its design and meet the warfighters' needs.
The LPD 17 Program also took advantage of numerous "Smart
Technologies" and optimized-manning initiatives to achieve significant
cost avoidance in the operating and support costs of this 12-ship Class.
Addressing manning and human-systems integration issues early in the
developmental process was absolutely essential, since some 60 percent of a
ship's total ownership costs - cradle-to-grave - are linked directly to its
operating and support expenses. In response, the LPD 17 was designed for a
significantly reduced crew size: the projected manning of 361 men and women
is 14 percent less than that of the smaller and far less-capable LPD-4 ships
that the LPD 17 Class replaces.
The San Antonio design reflects a focus on reducing workload. Its
all-electric auxiliaries eliminate existing maintenance-intensive steam
systems to achieve significant support savings by reducing crew workload over
the ship's 40-year lifetime. To further reduce maintenance support requirements,
corrosion-resistant materials are used throughout the ship, high solids paint
is used on the well deck overhead and ballast tanks, and the ship's interior
decks are covered with wear-resistant tile. The ship's design with its
hull-length overboard discharges and elimination of cuppers will avoid the
repeated painting of running rust down the ship's side.
The Design for Ownership approach led to changes that will enable every
Sailor and Marine to focus on warfighting and associated training and less on
routine facilities management and own-unit support. The LPD 17 also provides
the latest quality-of-life features to help reduce some of the rigors of life
at sea. Newly designed gender-neutral living spaces will have
"sit-up" berths and adjacent head and lounge facilities. All
crewmembers and Marines will be able to access e-mail and Internet services
within their berthing spaces via the SWAN.
The SWAN also advances the art of onboard training on the LPD 17 Class. The
ship's training department will employ a Total Ship Training System to
develop lesson plans, conduct training, and document results. Dedicated
training spaces include the Learning Resource Center and Electronic
Classroom, and even the ship's chapel has been designed to convert into a
Classroom. The ship is designed to support Marine training needs by providing
space for an indoor simulated weapons range, as well as other weapons
trainers in the well deck and vehicle stowage spaces. Crews will be able to
train in their Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicles as they interact with the
ship's Battle Force Tactical Trainer.
America's naval expeditionary forces - particularly its multi-mission
ARG/MEUs and future ESGs - are at the leading edge of global operations that
protect important U.S. interests, allies, and friendly nations. They help
maintain peace and stability in troubled regions around the world, provide
the foundation for quick, effective response when crises and conflicts erupt,
and are expected to be at the leading edge in the War on Terrorism.
When the first Sailors and Marines stepped onboard USS San Antonio in 2004,
they brought forward a history of expeditionary operations from the sea that
began more than two centuries ago. The 12 multimission LPD 17s are the
foundation needed for extending that tradition of expeditionary warfare
excellence well into the 21st century. (source: US Navy)
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