Shame there will only be 3 of these. The electrical generation is what gets me.. Just imagine what they will be able to do with that over the lifetime of the ship. I love the Burkes, but I think at this point they are pretty much maxed out in what we can realistically expect them to do (which is still fantastic).

Eventually Pakistan will do something that push's us over the edge, and away from them in a big way. I would have thought finding Osama a few miles away from the equivalent of West Point would have been that 'thing', but apparently it wasn't.

Looks like no U.S. planes.. I wonder if the other countries involved can send Greece a bill for there lost aircraft. :)

Any idea what other planes got taken out?

I dont think that would have really changed anything. There was atleast 6 Battleships off the coast, and thousands of bombers in the air.

</Start Trolling>

Eh, maybe.. but I dont think so. The shots of behind the ship show a open space below those areas. Not sayings its not possible, but that layout doesnt look conducive to it.

Yes; that's not so unusual though.. Especially if your going to be putting the ships in harms way, even on a non offensive role (think patrolling the Persian gulf) you want some sort of defense against ASM's, even if it is fairly minor.

I think you nailed it at the end. It's a way to build a warship to control an area without building a warship to control an area. :) I'm surprised they didn't stick VLS tubes on this thing.

Impressive if they knocked it down with a Strella.

Yeh, not sure.. I also wonder how long a 150kw laser has to be on target to destroy a incoming missile. I'd venture not long at that power output.

Thats a powerful laser, and perfect fit for the LCS if they can power it.

Really? I didnt see that? Do you have a link to it? That would be huge..

I remember that. Just did a quick look up on that ship as well, that was a very small ship (comparatively speaking) at 1,200 tons compared to the LCS at 3,000 tons. It took the hit and was mission killed, but did not go down. It's a shame that the anti-ship defense were not turned on at the time, I am exceedingly…

All good points! I guess you are right that in the littorals you probably wont have time to use a SM as the distance will be short. In the Falklands most of the Exocets were air launched, not sure of the range that they let them rip at so not sure if a SM would have worked in that environment.

Was referencing SM2's at longer range. SEARAM/CIWS is nice, but that should be a last ditch weapon to be used. As far as I know, the LCS design they are talking about wont have the ability to do anything for defense then what we would consider 'last ditch'.

Never said anything about armor. I actually said it was a waste to even contemplate it. Chancellorsville didnt sink, damage, sure, didnt sink, not even close.

Nimitz class carrier for one. Can it survive a volley of them (5 or 6)? No.. Can it survive a few hits, i'm sure it can.

Not sure I agree with that.. There have been tests where ships have taken multiple hits from anti-ship missiles and survived. Mission capable after a hit? Maybe, maybe not.. If your point was a swarm of missiles, then yeh, pretty much any ship is going to be done. Falklands wasn't that tho, it was a few shots…

If we cant deploy a warship to fight wars, i'm not sure the use of it. :)