Most Read 2016:LCS Destroys Small Boat Attack

A Navy Littoral Combat Ship destroyed an attacking swarm of small boats using a wide range of assets and weapons such as 57mm guns, radar, drones and helicopters, service officials said.

“We did a firing against swarming boats using installed 57mm guns in combination with the ship’s 30mm guns to take out unmanned remote-controlled boats,” Capt. Tom Anderson, LCS program manager, told Scout Warrior in an interview last year. 

The swarming small boat attack, which took place off the coast of California, was a key part of an operational test and evaluation of the USS Coronado, or LCS 4.

The test attack was designed to access and demonstrate the LCS’s layered defense system which seeks to use a host of assets and integrated technologies as a way to identify and destroy approaching threats, Anderson explained.

During the scenario, at least four armed fast-moving small boats raced after the USS Coronado in an attempt to attack, destroy and overwhelm the ship, he said.

The system of layered defenses, however, worked as intended, Anderson said. Operators on the ship adjust their weapons based upon the range of the threat, he added.

“The way it works is you want to have visibility of those swarms coming in as far off as you can. This visibility can come from other ships, helicopters up or the Fire Scout (drone),” he said. “Longer range assets passes information off to the ship and then the ship’s radar picks it up as the threat comes in.”

The next layers of defense are then a ship-based medium-range missile, followed by 57mm guns and 30mm guns for the closest-in threats.