The DDG-51 program manager said at the Surface Navy Association’s annual symposium last week that the DDG-51 Alreigh Burke class Flight III Baseline’s detail design work is on track to support the beginning of construction early this year.
The Flight III model of the destroyer primarily aims to deliver a more advanced ballistic missile defense capability by replacing the current SPY-1 radar with a longer range Raytheon [RTN] SPY-6 Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) as well as advancement to Baseline 10 of the Lockheed Martin [LMT] Aegis Combat System (ACS).
Capt. Casey Moton, the program manager , said the test AMDR is being tested at the Navy’s Hawaii test range and is set to be integrated with the Baseline 10 ACS later this year at the Navy’s Combat System Engineering Development Site in Moorestown, NJ.
About 100 percent of the Flight III Baseline detail zone design was completed as of Dec. 15 and final detail design activities will be finished before start of construction, Moton said.
The initial Flight III ships are divided between current DDG-51 shipbuilders, with DDG-125 awarded to Huntington Ingalls Industries [HII] in June and DDG-126 awarded to General Dynamics’ [GD] Bath Iron Works (BIW) in September.
Beyond new radars and combat system upgrades, the new model will feature electrical power, cooling capacity, and other changes needed to accommodate the new radar system.
This includes starboard enclosures for deckhouse space, a Full Load Operational Displacement Enhancement System (FLODES) to enlarge the stern to help balance the AMDR’s weight increase and maintain buoyancy, five 300-ton air conditioning plants to cool the new radar, increase inner bottom scantlings to move the center of gravity down to counter the AMDR size while also making a tougher underwater hull, and replace the electric plant.
The new ships will have three four megawatts (MW) 4160 Volt Alternating Current (VAC) to replace the previous three 3MW 450 VAC generators. However, the ship will also have to add transformers and other electrical equipment to transfer the increased energy load useful for the AMDR into lower levels for other standard ship systems.
He also noted the president’s fiscal year 2018 budget request includes a provision seeking multi-year procurement authority for FY2018-2022 for 10 ships, which is included in the passed NDAA and is under consideration in defense appropriations.
“At a topline, we’re back at serial product of Flight IIAs, and we’re on a good path for Flight III,” Moton said.
He underscored that the Flight III fixed-price-incentive contract makes both NAVSEA and the builders comfortable with shipbuilding risks of the new program.
“In the end, the fact that we were able to meet agreement with both builders, what that means – we both signed the contract, we both felt the risk sharing was fair to both parties.”
He also added that the congressional approval thus far of possible multi-year procurement authority on DDG-51s is the “biggest metric” that they are comfortable with how the program is proceeding as well.