A littoral battle ship (LCS), a fast, agile, and stealthy navy platform built for operations in near-shore environments, is what you would call a littoral combatship. It's designed to defeat asymmetric threats like mines, submarines, and fast surface craft in order to maintain maritime supremacy within the littoral.
The LCS was developed to replace the Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided missile frigates that were retired from US Navy service in 2008. Although the LCS's main mission is Anti-Surface Warfare and can be modified to include other missions like Sea Control, Power Projection, or Sea Control, it can also perform other tasks such as Sea Control.
There are currently two variants of the LCS, the Freedom class and Independence class. The Freedom class is built on a monohull of steel, while the Independence class uses a trimaran-hull.
Despite being a relatively recent platform, the LCS has been plagued by serious reliability and cost issues ever since its inception. These problems have been widely reported in the media.
GAO recently reported that the LCS program was plagued by low quality workmanship, overruns and structural defects, which has led to the premature retirement of many ships.
LCS has become an unsustainable weapon system. Operating and maintaining the program over the lifetime of the ships will cost the government more than $60bn.
The Navy has attempted to address some problems, but they are unable or unwilling to solve them all. This is a huge problem for the Navy because it won't be able afford to maintain or upgrade the ships without increasing its funding.
GAO has stated that the USN must spend more money on repairs and maintenance of the ships to keep them operational. This would allow them to continue their current missions.
However, the cost of these repairs is likely to be a substantial burden for taxpayers. This is because of the fact that the Navy must reimburse contractors for services provided.
There are also concerns regarding the Navy's ability manage the vessels and keep them in good condition for long periods of time. This is due to a lack in maintenance experience and the complexity and difficulty of managing electronic systems.
Last but not least, the LCS was found to be susceptible to corrosion as well as sacrificial andodes. This has led to many hull cracking and damage, which has limited their ability operate in higher speed patrols or in rough water conditions.
The Navy has had to make major changes to the LCS after it was a huge failure. These include updating and rectifying the ship's design as well as addressing cost overruns and other issues with the LCS program. The Navy also promised to continue working on the ship's development to improve its performance.