Posted on 10/31/2001 6:10:14 AM PST by Stand Watch Listen
Washington -- The U.S. Navy has decided to go ahead with plans to build its next generation destroyer, reorganizing the program so more of the technology it uses can be applied to other vessels, according to a Navy document.
The destroyer project that was known as the DD-21 will be renamed the DD-X, according to a one-page briefing paper prepared for senior Navy and Pentagon officials. Such documents are used to summarize major program decisions. The project had been on indefinite delay since May as the Defense Department reviewed strategy, force structure and weapons programs.
The decision to move forward means the Navy will let teams headed by General Dynamics Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Ingalls Shipbuilding compete for the contract. One team will to be selected next spring to design the ship, with production scheduled to start in 2005.
The revised plans for the destroyer fits within the Pentagon's new Quadrennial Defense Review strategy to support defense weapons programs with technology capable of ``transforming'' the battlefield.
Although the original plan for the DD-21 had some of those elements, the plan needed to be refocused along the lines of the review, said Edward ``Pete'' Aldridge, the Pentagon's undersecretary for acquisition.
``Everything the DD-21 had in terms of technology with new propulsion and a new gun system, with manpower saving, stealth technology, all fit a direction in the QDR,'' Aldridge said in an interview last week, before the Navy's decision.
Spreading Technology
The Pentagon delayed the project last summer to ask the Navy whether ``the DD-21 we had six months ago the right DD-21?'' Aldridge said. ``The technologies are all things we need in the future, not only for the DD-21 but other ships.''
The DD-X ``represents the transformation engine of the Navy, both as a ship and a critical source of technology'' for the next generation CG-X cruiser program, attack ships designed primarily to support troops ashore in the so-called ``littorals'' and existing aircraft carriers and DDG-51 destroyers, according to the Navy document explaining the program.
DD-X technology that's applicable to new cruisers, land attack vessels, carriers and existing destroyers includes an integrated electric power system, widespread automation to reduce crew sizes and a reduced radar profile through the use of stealth design and construction techniques, the Navy document says.
The program's most highly touted feature serves the Navy's goal of reducing crews to 95 from 300 today -- a target based on greater automation.
Use for Other Ships
Existing aircraft carriers will benefit from the destroyer's multi-function radar and greater automation while the DDG-51 class, the Navy's current destroyer, will receive some of the DD- X's automated damage control features designed to mitigate the type of damage suffered by the USS Cole during the October 2000 terrorist attack in Yemen, said the Navy paper.
The new plan may satisfy legislators that the Navy program is on track. The House Appropriations Committee last week citing the program's uncertain status cut the Navy's $643 million research request by $493 million -- the largest single reduction it made in any weapons program.
``Is the Navy's goal of a crew size no greater than 95 attainable or even desirable?'' said the committee in its report on the $318 billion fiscal 2002 budget. ``And most importantly, does the DD-21 truly qualify as a `leap ahead' system and to what extent does it contribute to the transformation of U.S. naval forces in the 21st century?''
The May decision to delay the project came days before General Dynamics and Ingalls Shipbuilding Inc. unit were to submit their final contract offers. The selection was scheduled to take place in mid-June.
General Dynamics' Bath Iron Works Co. leads a so-called ``Blue Team'' with Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Government Electronics Systems. Northrop Grumman's Ingalls unit leads the ``Gold'' team with Raytheon Systems Co.
Regards, Bob (USS Harry E. Yarnell, DLG-XVII, USS Hoel, DDG-XIII)
Regards
BT2 George C. Austin USS Henry B. Wilson (DDG-VII)
Automation is a wonderful thing....until it breaks!
I'm pretty sure both of mine have been turned into razor blades by now.
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