An attainable ninety-percent solution compares favorably with a program trying to mature too many technologies at once. Denmark's Standard Flex system already offered working modular interfaces and operational experience. A licensed first generation could have put useful Littoral Combat Ships into service while US yards learned how to build and support the concept. Later ships could then add more ambitious technology without making the entire initial fleet depend on simultaneous breakthroughs.
Notable Point · 2:07:28-2:09:35
Standard Flex as a safer first LCS step
Licensing Denmark's mature Standard Flex system could have put a practical modular ship into service before the US pursued more ambitious technology.