The Navy has scaled back plans to modernize the Aegis combat systems on Arleigh Burke-class (DDG-51) destroyers that would allow them to simultaneously conduct air-theater warfare and ballistic missile defense as part of an effort to save money over the next five years.
Capt. Tom Druggan, the program manager for Aegis at Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), confirmed plans Wednesday to remove the Aegis baseline 9C upgrades for the five Flight IIA destroyers that had been scheduled to take place over the next half-decade.
Druggan told Defense Daily on the sidelines of the American Society of Naval Engineers symposium Wednesday that the decision included in the Navy’s fiscal 2016 budget proposal is part of an overall effort by the service to save money by cutting back on modernization.
“Because of fiscal constraints, modernization across the Navy has slowed down,” he said. “Our piece of that … was that the rate of modernization for destroyers will slow down.”
“They are not going to get it as scheduled,” he added.
Rather than upgrade three ships annually over the next five years as originally envisioned, the number will now be reduced to two ships yearly, he said. He emphasized however, that the ships will still likely get Aegis baseline 9C, but probably not until after 2020. He also suggested that timeframe could move up if priorities changed in the next few years.
Lockheed Martin [LMT] is the prime contractor for Aegis. USNI News first reported the five destroyers won’t get baseline 9C, and said the ships affected are the USS Howard (DDG-83), USS McCampbell (DDG-85), USS Mustin (DDG-89), USS Chafee (DDG-90) and USS Bainbridge (DDG-96).
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert told the Senate Armed Services Committee in February that with tightening budgets, the Navy is opting to reduce spending on ship modernization to minimize cuts to shipbuilding.
The key feature of baseline 9C is a multi-mission signal processor that brings added capacity and enables Arleigh-Burke crews to engage in air-theater warfare and ballistic missile defense at the same time, without having to switch between the two modes. Aegis 9C is central to the Navy’s effort for Integrated Air and Missile Defense.
Druggan said the decision will force the Navy to break with plans to combine the ship availabilities for hull, mechanical and electrical upgrades and repairs, with Aegis combat system upgrades, meaning the five destroyers will now have to be taken out of service twice rather than once to get both upgrades.
Druggan said dropping from three Aegis baseline 9C upgrades to two per year will likely cause a unit cost increase under economies of scale, but he said he doesn’t expect it to be significantly higher.
“If I am buying two ship-sets instead of three I will lose some negotiating power,” he said. “That means that I won’t get as good a price for two as I would have for three.”