3D Modeling Could Speed Procurement of Navy Destroyer.

• Author: Machi, Vivienne

* As the Navy prepares to award a production contract for its new Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer this year, service officials are touting advanced 3D manufacturing and design techniques as a way to cut costs and time for its major shipbuilding programs.

The day after the service released a final request for proposals for the DDG-51 Flight III program--which includes a redesign of the current Flight IIA configuration to fit an upgraded radar capability onto the ship--Navy Assistant Secretary for Research, Development and Acquisition James "Hondo" Geurts said the increased use of digital technologies in the R&D phase could help move the program's production timeline to the left.

"You're starting to see the era of digital come," he said in a keynote speech at a recent industry conference in San Diego. Geurts, who assumed his new role in late 2017, said augmented reality and 3D digital modeling technologies could encourage speed and efficiency at the development stage for major shipbuilding programs.

The service has seen "huge savings" for the construction of the second Ford-class aircraft carrier thanks to these advanced design techniques, and could see similar gains as it moves forward with the DDG-51 Flight III program, he told reporters after his speech.

"We have got to figure out how to get these kinds of technologies in so we can drive out the cost of these megaprojects," he said.

The transition to the Flight III iteration is the Navy's program executive office for ships' No. 1 priority, said office chief Rear Adm. Bill Galinis at a recent industry conference in Washington, D.C.

"We're very pleased with where we are," he said. The first two Flight III contracts are now in place, with Huntington Ingalls Industries set to build DDG-125 and General Dynamics' Bath Iron Works building DDG-126.

As the Navy prepares for a multi-year program to include 10 ships between fiscal years 2018 to 2022, "the team is just making tremendous progress on the DDG-51 program," Galinis added.

The Arleigh Burke-class program was initiated in the early 1970s to build multi-mission destroyers with an emphasis on air defense and mid-ocean operations, according to a December 2017 report by the Congressional Research Service. These destroyers, equipped with Lockheed Martin's Aegis combat system, first entered service in 1991. The ships are built by Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine, and Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

The design has been...