Military Review English Edition May-June 2016 | Página 56
Mk54 Antisubmarine
Missile Module
Communications
Module
Classroom
Module
Mk38 25mm
Gun Module
Hospital
Recovery
Module
Ship
Boarding
Module
Combat
Information
Center Module
Aviation Support
Module (F-35/V-22)
Mine
Warfare
Module
Barracks
Module
Surface-to-Air/
Antimissile
Missile Module
Unmanned Surface
Vehicle/Unmanned
Underwater Vehicle
Support Module
Armory
Module
RGM-114 Hellfire
Surface-to-Surface
Missile Module
Clinic
Module
Operating
Room
Module
RGM-84 Harpoon
Surface-to-Surface
Missile Module
Helicopter
Support
Module
Power Module (fuel
cells/conventional
generators) Module
Mk110 57mm
Gun Module
Unmanned
Aerial Vehicle
Support Module
(Figure by Arin Burgess, Military Review)
Figure 1. Examples of Containerized Mission Modules
While LCS costs have exceeded expectations, leading
the Navy to dramatically restructure the ship class, the
modularity concept still has potential for building Army
modularized auxiliary cruisers. Denmark had more
success with perhaps more restricted ambitions when
it built a low-cost flexible support ship designed to use
interchangeable “self-contained, 10-foot cubes which
contain entire warfighting systems.”12 The ship, HDMS
Absalon, which attracted the interest of the U.S. Navy,
was “designed to use modularity and scalability to perform a wide variety of missions” such as naval combat,
transport, command and control, and humanitarian.13
The concepts of modularity and scalability are key.
The modular part of a modularized auxiliary cruiser
would be provided by building system components in
shipping containers. These proposed containerized mission modules would be easy to move by sea, road, rail, or
air, and they would be housed in industry-standard sizes
already in use and armored to provide protection for
personnel and equipment.14
Commercial container ships stack shipping containers on their decks for maximum usage. For a
modularized auxiliary cruiser layout, however, I do
not envision stacking containerized mission modules,
in order to allow the modules to mount gun turrets or
other weapons, antennas, sensors, and gear on the roof
of the module.
54
For missions that require more robust self-defense
capabilities, the modularized auxiliary cruiser would
be equipped with containerized mission modules that
included offensive and defensive missiles or gun turrets with small cannons or automatic weapons. Other
modules designed for Army, Marine, or U.S. Special
Operations Command ground elements would support
company-sized teams tailored to the specific mission,
whether combat, training, or humanitarian. Modules to
support civil affairs and Special Forces, plus helicopters
or unmanned aerial vehicles, would supplement combat
elements. Some modules would contain power supplies
for other containerized mission modules, while others
would house the communications systems to plug a ship
into USAFRICOM’s command-and-control network.
Figure 1 provides hypothetical examples of containerized mission modules.
The scalability part of a modularized auxiliary cruiser comes from the platform. Larger or smaller container
ships could be selected for conversion, depending on the
size, complexity, and duration of the envisioned mission.
Any container ship selected would have the deck space
to accommodate containerized mission modules and
room to launch, land, and stow rotary- or fixed-wing
manned or unmanned aircraft.
Using an appropriately sized container ship, the
modularized auxiliary cruiser would be converted
May-June 2016 MILITARY REVIEW