LCS warfare package eval delayed

The Littoral Combat Ship's mine-countermeasures (MCM) mission package won’t reach its operational status by Sept. 30 after reliability issues forced the program to stretch the timeline for initial testing in the Gulf of Mexico. The Mobile, Ala.-built USS Independence (LCS-2) has been off the coast of Northwest Florida conducting a technical evaluation since April, and it was to have wrapped up in early June to allow the start of its operational test and evaluation in July and final operational declaration before the start of FY 2016. But Capt. Casey Moton, LCS missions' modules program manager, said there were reliability problems in the technical evaluation that happened on two separate mine clearance runs that led the program office to extend the evaluation period. There wasn't a single point of failure in the testing, with some even involved the ship itself. Moton is certain the mission package will reach operational status at the end of the latest evolution. (Source: US Naval Institute News 07/31/15) The MCM package was developed at Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City, Fla. Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., has provided a home port for the ship during the test period.