Short-term thinking and the LCS problem

Did the US Navy fall into short-termism after 1991?

Largely yes: political and economic short-termism affected programmes, and the LCS illustrates a concept whose relevance was limited in time.

Short political and budget cycles differ from the more damaging habit of procuring long-lived forces around a temporary idea. The Littoral Combat Ship programme outlasted the strategic moment that made its concept seem plausible. The ships might still be assigned useful wartime tasks once they exist. That does not demonstrate that the original peacetime force-design case was durable.