Posted on 10/06/2012 9:41:04 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Navy Bets On Arleigh Burkes To Sail Until 2072; 40 Years Afloat For Some
Tomorrow morning, at Manhattan's Pier 88, the Navy will commission its newest destroyer, DDG-112. The USS Michael Murphy's namesake was uncompromisingly heroic, a Navy SEAL who died earning the Medal of Honor in Afghanistan. The ship itself, however, embodies a series of cost-conscious compromises that will keep the Navy sailing a 1980s design -- albeit much upgraded --until at least 2072.
These destroyers are and will long remain the Navy's mainstay. The Arleigh Burke class to which the Murphy belongs is built to carry the Aegis anti-aircraft system that defends the entire fleet, including the prized aircraft carriers. The Chief of Naval Operations himself, Adm. Jonathan Greenert, has explicitly said that the Navy is building the smaller, cheaper Littoral Combat Ships to take on supporting missions, so the fleet can free up destroyers to face the most dangerous and high-tech foes: submarines, long-range missiles, jet fighter-bombers, and more, all integrated into "anti-access" networks like those being developed by the Chinese. Updating the Arleigh Burkes to keep up with the threat will be a heroic effort.
Central to those upgrades is a radically new radar, the Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR), using a technology already proven in aircraft called an "active phased array" or Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA). The "passive" SPY-1 arrays on current destroyers draw their power from a single transmitter inside the ship; "active" systems have hundreds or thousands of tiny transmitters built into the array's surface, which lets them generate a larger number of more powerful beams, all individually scanning for targets.
"We're going to be delivering over 30 times the radar capability in the same space," Capt. Doug Small, program manager for AMDR, told AOL Defense. That'
(Excerpt) Read more at defense.aol.com ...
Good looking ship....now, if we only had an administration who knew how to use it....
However, I have long thought that some naval warship should be named for a Native American leader. The USS Crazy Horse or USS Sitting Bull might be appropriate.
I know Battleship was only a movie, but man those Arleigh Burkes are something special... the Zumwalt class destroyer aren’t nearly as cool. I say you have a winner in the Arleigh Burkes, just keep the upgrades coming!
I know Battleship was only a movie, but man those Arleigh Burkes are something special... the Zumwalt class destroyer aren’t nearly as cool. I say you have a winner in the Arleigh Burkes, just keep the upgrades coming!
Does the Navy use depth charges anymore or have they been replaced by “smart” torpedoes?
“However, I have long thought that some naval warship should be named for a Native American leader. The USS Crazy Horse or USS Sitting Bull might be appropriate. “
Careful, you’ll get the USS Elizabeth Warren or worse.
I worry our country no longer deserves these brave fighters.
40 years out of a hull isn’t impossible but it requires some things. Among them is scheduled maintenance. One of the biggest problems the Navy has right now is that as the number of hulls decreases there is no decrease in missions, and it is dedicated inport maintenance time that is being sacrificed. You don’t get 40 years out of ships run into the dirt.
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