Post-Cold War certainty shaped LCS assumptions

The Littoral Combat Ship emerged from the Rumsfeld-era pursuit of visibly new and transformative systems. The working assumption was that no peer would challenge the United States at sea, allowing the Navy to emphasize influence ashore instead of preparing for major fleet combat. That confidence helped make a proven general-purpose frigate role seem old-fashioned even though the underlying presence requirement remained. A judgment that appears obvious to one side may not be shared by a potential opponent. Force design becomes brittle when it treats another state's willingness to contest the sea as impossible rather than uncertain.