SOUTHCOM: Send in the LCS

ARLINGTON, Va. – The regional combatant commander responsible for military operations in Central and South America and the Caribbean is looking forward to deploying the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ships across the region to interdict illegal drug trafficking. “Send me the LCS,” said Adm. Kurt Tidd, commander of the U.S. Southern Command, in remarks Jan. 12 at the Surface Navy Association National Symposium. “It’s the perfect platform (for the mission) ... It’s going to give us great capability.” The Navy has strained to provide adequate ships to patrol the Caribbean Sea and the Eastern Pacific given its priorities in the Western Pacific, Persian Gulf and Europe. The shortage has been exacerbated with the retirement of the last Perry-class frigates, once the backbone of the Navy’s drug interdiction operations. “We run out of forces before we run out of missions we’re engaged in,” Tidd said. In late 2016, the Navy home-ported two LCS at Naval Station Mayport, Fla., and those will be joined by others in the near future. (Source: Sea Power 01/12/17)