Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Concept of Operations

Customer: U S Navy and the Industry team partners supporting the construction of the Littoral Combat Ship.

Challenge: In order to determine the capabilities required in the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), the U S Navy needed to describe the Concept of Operations ( ConOps) for the initial LCS concepts and the spiral development of follow-on versions ("Flights"). To fully achieve this goal, WBB helped the Navy produce a document to promote a common understanding of those capabilities and build consensus among operational warfighters, the acquisition community and industry teams contributing to the design and construction of the LCS class. The CONOPS needed to not only describe the required capabilities, but also characterize how the LCS will contribute to the success of U.S. Joint Force operations in countering anti-access and area denial threats and extending Joint Force combat reach.

Approach: Working closely with the Navy customer, WBB produced a text document with tactically-oriented vignettes that described how the LCS would be integrated within the Navy's overall Surface Combatant Force operational vision. This description included linkages to various strategy-to-vision documents, such as the Joint Operations Concepts, the Naval Operating Concept for Joint Operations, and Sea Power 21. The follow-on effort included a more detailed description of the concept of employment which described both LCS focused mission capabilities (Mine Countermeasures, Anti-submarine Warfare and Surface Warfare) and how those LCS-based capabilities enable the U.S. Joint Force to operate more effectively in the littorals. The final LCS ConOps was developed using a collaborative process involving key LCS program stakeholders. The stakeholders provided comment and feedback as each section of the CONOPS was completed.

Value: Because the LCS ConOps was collaboratively produced and carefully validated with the warfighter, the staffing process was extensively streamlined. WBB rapidly delivered a final ConOps that remains both the common frame of reference and the key source document for the development of LCS operating procedures, maintenance, crewing, and training. The ConOps also enabled ship design teams to move forward with a clearer understanding of how LCS will be operated.