Navy Pursues New Amphibious War Strategy With LX(R)

By Kris Osborn – Managing Editor, Warrior Maven

The Navy is seeking to accelerate delivery of a new, multi-mission amphibious assault ship designed to function in a modern threat
environment, conduct a wider range of missions than the ship it is replacing, and help the service increase the lagging number of amphibs in the force, senior service officials said at the 30th Surface Navy Association’s National Symposium in Virginia.

The structure and technology of new ship, called the LX(R), is loosely based on an LPD 17 hull – yet engineered with a wider sphere
of technologies intended to address new threats posed by near-peer adversaries.

The Navy plans to build at least 11 new LX(R) ships, with the first one slated to deliver by 2026, service developers said.

Capt. Brian Metcalf, Program Manager, LPD 17 and LX®, PEO Ships, told Warrior Maven at SNA the Navy is hoping Congress ultimately approves additional funding now being considered to accelerate the developmental timeline for the new ship.

Metcalf stressed that the emerging LX® is an integral part of the Navy’s amphibious assault strategy for the future, a series of emerging concepts oriented toward better positioning the service to engage successfully in full-scale open water amphibious warfare against a technologically advanced enemy.

The Navy hopes to add much greater numbers of amphibious assault ships to the fleet while simultaneously adjusting to a modern threat landscape which will require more dis-aggregated operations – and require single Amphibious Ready Groups (ARG) to perform a much wider range of missions.

​