<![CDATA[US Navy's improved littoral combat warships in Asia to be armed with radar-evading precision missiles]>

The US Navy's once-beleaguered class of littoral combat ships (LCS) are back on an improved standing after major reforms, and military analysts say such warships " now to be armed with radar-evading precision missiles " could give Washington's forward deployed forces in Asia a much-needed boost, amid rapid technological gains by China's navy.

The LCS programme has come under the spotlight as the USS Gabrielle Giffords, the ninth warship in the class, makes its way to Singapore from San Diego for a rotational deployment in the Western Pacific, alongside sister ship USS Montgomery.

This is the first time two of the warships are being deployed simultaneously out of Singapore " home to a major US refuelling and logistics facility " since former president Barack Obama's administration in 2012 announced it would station up to four of the warships there, as part of a wider "pivot to Asia" strategy.

US littoral combat ships " which have a shallow draft and are similar to frigates in other navies " are smaller and faster than destroyers, and were envisioned as the ideal naval vessel for deployment in Asia's busy and disputed waters.

But since the 2012 announcement, the warships have been bogged down by multiple problems, including bloated cost, design, manning and training arrangements, and questions about the warships' ability to survive in combat.

One of the problems included issues with the warships' interchangeable "mission modules" " which are meant to make the vessels versatile enough to carry out varied missions such as hunting mines to surface warfare.

The list of woes led the US Navy to reduce the number of littoral combat ships it planned to acquire from 55 to 38.

Between 2013 and 2016, there were only three single-ship deployments to Singapore, and the US Navy halted overseas deployments of the warships for 19 months until the USS Montgomery arrived in the city state in July.

One of the US Navy's littoral combat ships, the USS Freedom, pictured in 2013. Photo: US Navy Handout alt=One of the US Navy's littoral combat ships, the USS Freedom, pictured in 2013. Photo: US Navy Handout

The freeze followed a major review of the LCS programme in 2016, ordered by then US Navy chief of operations Admiral John Richardson.

The USS Montgomery took part in the inaugural US-Asean maritime exercise last month.

Eric Sayers, who formerly served as a consultant to the commander of the Pacific Command, said given the long interruption, "any deployment is an improvement".

"Having two in Singapore and eventually moving to four or more will also give the [US Indo-Pacific Command] the ability to enhance its posture in Southeast Asia, and perform more bilateral and multilateral exercises with regional navies," said Sayers, an adjunct fellow at the Centre for a New American Security.

Collin Koh, a Singapore-based naval researcher, said while the US Navy acknowledged the LCS class still had issues to resolve, it has also "pointed out that the class has matured to a degree, especially when it concerns fleet availability, maintenance and crewing".

"So it's possible to see more littoral combat ships take to the seas and in particular, more of these vessels potentially rotated to the Western Pacific region in line with the earlier stated goals," said Koh, a research fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

Analysts emphasised that while the double LCS deployment was noteworthy, the fact that the USS Gabrielle Giffords was the first in its class to be deployed overseas with the US Navy's new Naval Strike Missile was of greater significance.

The US Navy plans to arm all littoral combat ships with the missile system.

With radar-masking abilities, the sea-skimming missile " working hand in hand with a helicopter drone that helps to aim it " is precise enough to target a specific part of an enemy ship.

For years, defence hardware experts have complained that the LCS class was ill-equipped to deal with the Chinese navy's advanced anti-ship weapons system.

"The real story here is the [US surface navy] is finally getting serious about anti-surface warfare in the face of two decades of People's Liberation Army Navy investments," Sayers said. "China has been deploying a range of anti-ship weapons across its entire fleet that keep admirals and intelligence officers in the Pacific up at night."

Koh said previous iterations of the US littoral combat ships armed with the Block-1C harpoon " with a range of 140km " were likely to be disadvantaged in an "over-the-horizon" fight with Chinese vessels armed with missiles that have a range of 180km to 190km.

"The Naval Strike Missile has a range of 185km, which puts it on a more comparable footing. But it's more than just range: the Naval Strike Missile is a more modern missile than the harpoon, especially in its targeting sensor and manoeuvrability, which could be crucial in overcoming the increasingly capable shipboard defences of new PLA Navy surface combatants," he said.

The naval watchers, however, cautioned against overestimating the capability of the US littoral combat ships.

US military dominance in Asia " thanks to its forward-deployed forces in facilities spanning from Hawaii in the Pacific to the naval base of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean " has long been taken as fait accompli.

But in the US, there is rising concern that the PLA Navy's rapid technological gains, coupled with the firepower offered by the PLA Rocket Force " with missiles that can hit targets as far as Singapore " could cripple Washington's forward-deployed forces in the event of war between the superpowers.

That would mean US warships and planes deployed nearer to home would then have to be deployed and "fight to get to the fight".

Wu Shang-su, a Singapore-based researcher who studies the Chinese military, said the American littoral combat ships with naval strike missiles were "certainly capable" of what's known as sea denial " disrupting enemies' use of maritime space.

"But surface vessels would just be a point of the whole network, from space to underwater. Since the PLA Navy is large enough, the US Navy and related forces would have [to deal with] a number of large scenarios on broad theatres," said Wu, of the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

For now, "two littoral combat ships would play a small role", he said.

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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