LCS: Hunting smugglers
February 1st, 2010 | Aviation Coast Guard Maritime operations | Posted by Phil Ewing
AMT2 Lee Fenton of HITRON took aim with his .50 caliber sniper rifle at a mock smugglers' boat during a training event in Florida last March. The Freedom is training up in airborne use of force before sailing on its its trial deployment later this month // PA2 Bobby Nash / Coast Guard
Even before the littoral combat ship Freedom touched saltwater, people were talking about how it could work with the Coast Guard on counter-drug operations in the Caribbean — up to and including the notion that the Coast Guard would buy its own LCSes so it could have them full-time. Since Freedom and the Coast Guard’s first national security cutter, the Bertholf, have gone from concepts to actual ships and done actual things at sea, people don’t talk as much anymore about a Coast Guard LCS.
Still, every indication is that Freedom will be doing lots of Coast Guard missions during its trial deployment to the 4th Fleet area of responsibility; it will even have a Coast Guard boarding team for part of its cruise. If Scoop Deck were a betting blog, it’d lay good money on the notion that Navy commanders really want some exciting FLIR video of Freedom using its 45-knot sprint speed to chase down cocaine traffickers, then launching its Coast Guardsmen to finish off the take-down.
And those aren’t the only tools it’ll have: According to this Navy announcement, Freedom is undergoing “counter-illicit trafficking and airborne use of force training and certification” during a visit to Naval Station Mayport, Fla. So does that mean Freedom’s own MH-60S Seahawk helicopter will be firing on drug boats? Or that the ship will be collaborating with the MH-65C Dolphins of the Coast Guard’s Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron — aka HITRON?
Whatever happens, it sounds like the makings for some thunder in paradise.
Comments
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LCS Alternative Weekly « New Wars Says:
February 3rd, 2010 at 12:02 pm[...] $600 million USS Freedom will soon be chasing smugglers in speed boats, according to Scoop Deck: Still, every indication is that Freedom will be doing lots of Coast Guard missions during its [...]
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The Scoop Deck – The great carrier move. What does it mean? Says:
February 15th, 2010 at 3:35 pm[...] Station Mayport. For one, the littoral combat ship Freedom is departing tomorrow morning on its trial deployment — you’ll be along for the ride here on the Deck — and for another, people here [...]
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The Scoop Deck – The Navy does the flyin’, the Coast Guard does the shootin’ Says:
February 17th, 2010 at 12:15 pm[...] SHIP FREEDOM — Remember a few weeks ago when we wondered how this ship would use its new airborne-use-of-force capability to help stop drug runners in the Caribbean? The answer is pretty simple: The Freedom’s [...]