And the price for each of these would pay for six or seven Burke class destroyers.
No matter how good it is, it can only be in one place at one time, not six or seven places or five places with ship rotation depending on whether it's a wartime or peacetime deployment.
I also don't see how when it comes to defending carriers how it is superior to having four to six Burke class ships sailing with the carrier.
And the price for each of these would pay for six or seven Burke class destroyers.
I believe that your point is essentially correct, but that the total cost of ownership would probably be quite different. Personnel, Operations and Maintenance costs add up to a lot over the lifecycle. The real cost might be a lot lower or higher than purchase price would indicate.
The big value might have been just keeping the industrial, research and development base from falling apart during the Obama years.
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>> “I also don’t see how when it comes to defending carriers how it is superior to having four to six Burke class ships sailing with the carrier.” <<
In short, it reduces the required manpower.
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