Alabama's LCS May Just Get Picked

Just replace the mast with a stealthy column to support SPY-1F radars

With a new focus on ballistic missile defense, the Navy needs Aegis frigates. The problem is, the Littoral Combat Ships it's trying out are not the frigates it needs: they are multi-purpose pirate chasers and mine hunters. For half their cost, that would be fine. But they are turning out to be insufferably expensive, and we'll likely only need a handful for the mine-hunting, pirate-deterring role.

However, with a few modifications, the General Dynamics version may just work. It could be modified to an Aegis frigate. All that is needed is for the light radar SPY-1F to be amped up enough to detect in-coming ballistic missiles. That may take some money and time, but it would save the class and spare the US from having to start a new frigate class. And a cost of roughly $800 million would be a bargain. The GD competitor, however, could not support the SM-3, the Navy's anti-ballistic missile missile. So we may just be building frigates here after all...