Austal's latest warship is a high-tech jet ski

by Jeni Bone on 6 Jan 2010 A new war machine, developed in partnership between Austal Australia and the US General Dynamics, is poised to take on pirates, as well as any other global threat. And it's basically a high-tech jet ski.

Known as the Independence, the Litoral Combat Ship is a shore-hugging warship and was described by US Navy Commander Curt Renshaw as 'the jet ski'.

Built for use in coastal or littoral waters, the 128-metre trimaran can reach sprint speeds of more than 45 knots (83 km/h).

'The faster you go, the more stable it tends to get,' said Renshaw, who previously commanded the USS Patriot, a mine-clearing ship, off the coast of Japan.

He said the size, speed and stability of USS Independence make it ideal for pursuing and rounding up modern-day pirates.

The ship has an advanced computer system that allows the engines, weapons and other systems to be operated from anywhere on board, even from a laptop in Renshaw's stateroom.

It will be commissioned on January 16, almost exactly four years after General Dynamics and its subcontractor, Australia's Austal Ltd , began work on the craft.

Renshaw and a crew of 40 will move on board about two weeks after the commissioning, when the ship enters active service.

Accepted by the Navy last month, Independence is one of two rival designs for a new class of more agile, cheaper warships.

LCS2 "Independence" was constructed by Austal USA in Mobile, Alabama, as part of the General Dynamics Littoral Combat Ship Team. It successfully completed a series of builder's trials on October 18 in the Gulf of Mexico. The trials included more than 50 demonstration events that rigorously test the ship and all of its systems in preparation for final inspection by the Navy before delivery.

Notable achievements during the trials included reaching a sustained speed of 44 knots during the required four-hour full-power run, with a top speed in excess of 45 knots.

Many of the test events were conducted in high sea-state and wind conditions (2.4 metre waves and winds in excess of 25 knots). Despite the weather, the ship repeatedly reached speeds of over 45 knots with propulsion and ride-control systems operating in full automatic mode, proving the effectiveness of the control systems and the highly efficient and stable characteristics of the trimaran hull form.

A series of high speed ahead and astern maneuvers in these sea state conditions proved the effectiveness of the ship’s four steerable water jets. During the repeated high-speed turns the ship demonstrated excellent agility and stability characteristics.

The ship’s flight deck remained stable despite sea state conditions and maneuvers.

The ship’s open architecture computing infrastructure (called OPEN CI), a highly flexible information technology backbone that integrates the ship’s combat, damage control, engineering control, mission package and other onboard computing functions, also proved its effectiveness during the trials. The OPEN CI ‘any display, anywhere’ capability was extremely valuable in enabling the LCS 2 crew to electronically reconfigure the bridge area and, at long range, the Core Mission System successfully detected, engaged and eliminated a simulated cruise missile attack by a small, fast-moving jet aircraft. In addition, the LCS 2 crew was able to access detailed performance and operation data from the bridge while the ship was operating, thereby providing them with real-time insight as to how the ship systems were performing.

The Littoral Combat Ship is a major part of the Navy's plan to address asymmetric threats in the 21st century. Intended to operate in coastal areas, the ships will be fast, highly maneuverable and equipped to support mine detection/elimination, anti-submarine warfare and anti-surface warfare mission.

The ship's highly flexible OPEN CI design, developed and integrated by a General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems team, allows "plug and play" integration of both the core systems and the LCS mission modules. It meets Navy open architecture requirements, strictly adheres to published industry standards and facilitates the integration of commercially available products.

Austal's Mobile facility currently employs almost 1,000 workers and is the largest aluminium shipyard in the world. In addition to the LCS, recent projects have included construction of the largest-ever aluminium ferry in the United States. Austal is also in the pre-construction design phase on the first Joint High Speed Vessels (JHSV) for the U.S. Department of Defense.

General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems is a provider of end-to-end mission solutions in systems integration, development and operations support to customers in the defense, intelligence, space and homeland security communities. The company integrates land, air, sea, space and cyber assets to facilitate the collection, exploitation, analysis and dissemination of mission-critical intelligence information.

General Dynamics, headquartered in Falls Church, Va., employs approximately 92,000 people worldwide. The company is a market leader in business aviation; land and expeditionary combat systems, armaments and munitions; shipbuilding and marine systems; and information systems and technologies.

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