Navy Reveals Details About Next-Generation Guided-Missile Destroyer.

• Author: Roaten, Meredith
• Position: NEWS BRIEFS

BY NATIONAL DEFENSE STAFF

* The Navy is sharing details about one of its most anticipated shipbuilding programs, the DDG(X) large surface combatant. The service's next-generation guided missile destroyer will maximize design efficiency and interoperability and will feature an upgraded hull and integrated power system, according to service leaders.

The platform will leverage the Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyer's combat systems capability, said Tom Rivers, executive director for the amphibious, auxiliary and sealift office at the Navy's program office for ships under Naval Sea Systems Command.

Commonality will be key for the fleet of the future, he noted during a panel at the Surface Navy Association's annual symposium.

A program office for guided missile destroyers was established last summer, Rivers said. Plans for the vessel include a new hull form and an integrated power system, which will allow flexibility for future upgrades, he said.

"We envision DDG(X) to not only be the most capable surface combatant on the planet in the 2030s, but also through the 2060s," he said.

"The combat system piece is pretty set," he said. "The piece that we're focusing on is really enlarging the hull so that we have the capacity from a volumetrics standpoint in the future to allow new systems to be installed as we go forward in the next 15 years."

The program office is changing its approach to ship production and development to stave off some of the problems encountered with the large-scale integration of new technologies in the Zumwalt-and Ford-class ships, Rivers said. Shipbuilders should aim to develop technologies once and use those designs as many times as possible, he added.

Directed energy will be a critical component for DDG(X), said Bob Shevock...