| DD(X):A
Lethal Warship Leads the Way To the Navy's Future Fleet
By JON P. WALMAN
Jon P. Walman, a former U.S. Navy surface warfare and antisubmarine warfare
officer, currently works as a naval warfare analyst at Anteon Corporation's
Center for Security Strategies and Operation and serves as the public
affairs officer for the DD(X) Program.
Imagine, as a future expeditionary strike group commander, having a warship
to employ against virtually any land, air, or sea threat. Launching hypersonic
precision missiles that can strike enemy strategic centers of gravity
with surgical accuracy hundreds of miles inland. Ordering responsive surface
fires that could overwhelm enemy encampments, destroy targets of tactical
interest, or suppress enemy ground forces up to 100 miles away. Fighting
with netted, next-generation multiwarfare systems designed to exploit
and dominate littoral environments on, above, and below the ocean's surface.
It is these types of unmatched capabilities that will make DD(X) an awesome,
powerful warship.
According to Capt. Charles H. Goddard, DD(X) program manager, DD(X) is
the foundation for what has become known as the surface combatant family
of ships, which includes the Navy's high-speed, mission-reconfigurable
littoral combat ship (LCS) and future cruiser, CG(X)--which will specialize
in air dominance and ballistic missile defense.
Articulating the need for the technologically advanced destroyer, Chief
of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Vern Clark told Congress that "...
DD(X) is so important because it is the leader and the heart of our family
of [future combatant] ships."
During his address to the Surface Navy Association on 16 January 2003,
Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development, and Acquisition)
John J. Young Jr. said, "Any discussion of transformation in the
Navy should start with DD(X)," adding, "I am convinced that
the family of combatants, led by DD(X), is essential to the future of
the Navy."
Family Logic
The Navy-Marine Corps Team in general and surface combatants in particular
must be able to assure access in the littorals, project combat power over
land, and support joint maneuver warfare ashore in order to fight and
win in future conflicts. Numerous studies have indicated that a network
or family of ships with distributed, synergistic capabilities is the optimal
and most affordable solution to carrying out the full spectrum of future
surface warfare operational missions. Consequently, the Navy's leadership
is pursuing a family of advanced, multimission surface combatants and
smaller, focused-mission warships that can collectively and affordably
meet that multifaceted challenge.
In a sense, modern warfare is somewhat like football because, in order
to win, a commander must field a good offense (DD(X)), a good defense
(CG(X)), and good "special" teams (LCS). The surface combatant
family of ships, with each member focused on a different aspect of the
battle, serves in that sense as the Navy's "game plan" for the
21st century.
The Strategy of Sea Basing
The CNO's vision for transforming the next-generation naval force is
spelled out in the Navy's Sea Power 21 "vision" paper, which
is based on three primary operational concepts: Sea Strike, Sea Shield,
and Sea Basing. In addition to its significant offensive and defensive
contributions to Sea Strike and Sea Shield, respectively, DD(X) will be
essential to Sea Basing. The goal of this concept is to promote and support
joint operational independence by minimizing the need to build up forces
and supplies ashore, thereby reducing their vulnerability and enhancing
operational mobility.
Aligned with the Navy's overarching FORCENet communications architecture,
the Sea Basing concept will leverage advanced sensor and communications
systems, precision ordnance, and weapons reach to enable the pre-positioning
of joint capabilities where they would be immediately employable and most
decisive. As one of the Navy's core sea-based assets, DD(X) will play
a vital role in realizing the Navy's Sea Power 21 vision.
DD(X) Attributes
DD(X) is being designed as a multimission surface combatant tailored
to provide offensive, distributed, and precision firepower at long range
in support of U.S. and allied forces maneuvering ashore. As a highly versatile
"sea base," DD(X) will provide forward presence and deterrence
while operating independently or as an integral part of a joint or combined
expeditionary strike group. Equipped with an array of offensive weapons,
DD(X) will take the fight to the enemy and project power ashore in ways
never before imagined. The versatile warship, optimally designed for network-centric
and joint operations, will ensure littoral dominance and give fleet and
force commanders advanced long-range precision-strike and persistent volume-fires
capabilities. Among its principal attributes are the following:
* An integrated power system and electric-drive propulsion;
* Multispectral signature reduction and advanced survivability features;
and
* Optimal manning, improved shipboard habitability, and low total ownership
cost.
DD(X) also will serve as the centerpiece of a family of surface combatants
being acquired to deliver a broad range of combat capabilities distributed
across multiple platforms. As such, the DD(X) program is serving as a
"technology engine" to transform tomorrow's surface fleet by
developing advanced technologies for insertion into current as well as
future warship programs--such as CG(X) and LCS.
Projecting Offensive Firepower
The successful completion of sea-based precision-strike and volume-fires
missions involves more than simply delivering ordnance on target, Goddard
said. These critical capabilities offer a ground component commander a
full toolkit of potential responses ranging from target destruction to
the neutralization, harassment, interdiction, and suppression of enemy
forces. The range and capability provided by the Advanced Gun System (AGS),
a next-generation naval gun being developed by United Defense (Minneapolis,
Minn.), will ensure thorough preparation of the battlefield before expeditionary
forces arrive, as well as responsive and accurate fire support once they
have reached their objective.
"Every round we can offer in support of maneuver forces is one less
round they don't have to bring ashore," Goddard pointed out.
He added that the AGS could be employed in a variety of unconventional
ways, such as supporting a call for fire from a small special-forces detachment
operating in a remote location with minimal logistics support. "All
they would really need is a GPS [global positioning system] receiver and
a secure means to communicate with the ship," Goddard said. "The
potential warfare applications for a system like this are infinite."
Transformation and Spiral Development
In November 2001, less than a year after the Bush administration took
office, the then-DD 21 program was restructured and renamed DD(X) under
a new solicitation. As a result of the new DOD (Department of Defense)
leadership's drive to transform the U.S. military into a faster, leaner,
and more lethal force, the Navy's 21st-century surface-combatant acquisition
program was essentially remodeled to accommodate the tenets of spiral
development and a smarter, lower-risk, business approach. Spiral development
identifies a desired capability, but the end-state requirements are not
known when the program is initiated, according to an attachment to a memorandum
by Under Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz. Instead, requirements are
refined in evolutionary steps through demonstration and risk management.
For example, as DD 21, the ship was to be delivered in a single step
to full capability. In contrast, the DD(X) program's spiral-development
plan allows the affordable introduction of new capabilities with acceptable
technical risk. This strategy involves a multiple "Flight" approach
of incremental performance improvements.
Another strength of the DD(X) acquisition strategy is that it facilitates
the achievement of such goals as: (a) maximizing the commonality of hull
and ship systems with CG(X); and (b) building "scalability"
into certain systems that may be used by other ships in the family. The
DD(X) contract also requires a technology-insertion plan for evolving
DD(X) and "seeding" technology to other future surface combatants.
On 29 April 2002, the Navy selected a team led by Northrop Grumman as
the DD(X) "design agent" to execute the next phase of the contract
(worth approximately $2.9 billion). The DD(X) "National Team"
subsequently formed by Northrop Grumman includes, among other companies,
Raytheon, Bath Iron Works, Lockheed Martin, United Defense, and Boeing.
DD(X) Engineering Development
During Phase III, the National Team is required to design, develop, build,
and conduct both land-based and at-sea testing of ten Engineering Development
Models (EDMs), and to engineer the results of the tests into the DD(X)
system design. Although the exact specifications of the system design,
such as the ship's displacement and weapons loadout, are still being finalized,
the fundamental characteristics of this advanced multimission destroyer
are clear.
Northrop Grumman is managing the development of the ten EDMs to support
the ship's critical design review, which is scheduled for fiscal year
2005. The EDMs encompass the following major ship systems and components:
* The Advanced Gun System and munitions;
* An autonomic fire-suppression system;
* A dual-band radar suite;
* Infrared signature;
* The ship's integrated deckhouse and apertures;
* Its integrated power system;
* Its integrated undersea warfare system;
* A peripheral vertical-launch system;
* The "total-ship" computing environment; and
* The ship's "tumblehome" hull form.
The National Team is required to use a fully integrated or total-ship
system engineering approach to meet the DD(X) system design requirements.
Unlike the approach used in previous U.S. Navy warship designs, the DD(X)
design team is seeking full integration of the ship's combat systems as
well as its hull, mechanical, and electrical systems, while also maximizing
the automation of functions.
For DD(X) Flight I, the Navy set maximum manning at 175 crew members
(with a goal of 125), including the helicopter detachment. The complement
of today's Arleigh Burke-class (DDG 51) Aegis guided-missile destroyers
is 345 crew members. Achievement of the DD(X) "optimal manning"
level is one of the key factors contributing to a reduction in the ship's
operational and ownership costs, relative to DDG 51, by about 50 percent.
Goddard considers the ship's integrated power system (IPS) and electric-drive
propulsion plant to be the most transformational aspect of DD(X). The
power system eliminates the auxiliary systems and hydraulics required
for traditional systems, and greatly improves efficiency by allowing the
crew to match power generation to power consumption. In addition to providing
an exponential increase in the power available for non-propulsion needs,
he said, IPS will provide an installed "power grid" to introduce
such directed-energy weapons as lasers and rail guns, as those technologies
mature.
"This is not your grandfather's destroyer," Goddard said. "DD(X)
is the first truly network-centric surface combatant. In addition to the
ship's large payload capacity, it will have a high C4I [command, control,
communications, computers, intelligence] fraction with warfare and information-systems
capabilities equivalent to those on today's carriers. We are on the cutting
edge of ship survivability and signature reduction," he said, "and
our radar, undersea warfare, and integrated power systems are state-of-the-art."
DD(X) Testing and Procurement Plan
A major milestone in the program's test plans was met when the Spruance-class
destroyer USS Arthur W. Radford was designated as the DD(X) test ship.
After decommissioning and inactivation, it will be towed to a Northrop
Grumman facility in Pascagoula, Miss., for conversion to the DD(X) test
platform. Among the installations planned are components of the integrated
power system, the dual-band radar, and the integrated deckhouse and apertures.
The conversion should take about one year, at which point at-sea testing
will commence.
The wave-piercing tumblehome hull form is another transformational development
that is expected to be critical to achieving the DD(X)'s low radar cross-section
(RCS), which will be similar to the RCS of a small fishing boat, Goddard
said. Tumblehome refers to the shape of the hull, which will be unlike
that of any ship now in service in the U.S. Navy. The DD(X) hull will
slope outward from the main deck down, deflecting radio-frequency energy
into the air and away from the emitting source. The DD(X) design team
will conduct a series of tumblehome hull form tank tests this summer in
the David Taylor Model Basin at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Carderock,
Md.
In November 2002, the DD(X) design team successfully tested a full-scale
assembly of a peripheral vertical-launch system test article fabricated
by Northrop Grumman in Pascagoula. The launcher concept distributes missile
launchers in separate four-cell launcher compartments along and in between
the ship's double hulls. The magazine protection system is uniquely configured,
with the outer hull thinner than the inner hull, to deflect blast damage
away from the ship at the point of an explosive impact, thereby providing
much greater protection for the ship's crew.
In February, the new Rolls-Royce MT30 marine gas turbine was selected
by Northrop Grumman to power the engineering development model of the
ship's integrated power system. Rolls-Royce will provide one 36 megawatt
MT30 generator set to drive the power system at the Naval Surface Warfare
Center, Philadelphia Division, Land Based Test Facility. In addition,
Rolls Royce and General Electric will participate in a runoff to provide
a four-megawatt ship-service generator set.
As part of the AGS development, the design team is conducting demonstration
tests of the 155mm (six-inch) Long Range Land Attack Projectile. Raytheon
Missile Systems and an SAIC/Lockheed Martin team are competing in risk-reduction
efforts; however, only one team will be selected, sometime this spring,
to continue development testing.
The DD(X) dual-band radar, comprising both multifunction and volume-search
radars, is being designed for waveform integration using a common data
processor. The solid-state, phased-array, X-band multifunction (or SPY-3)
radar also integrates functionality for horizon search, surface search,
navigation, missile target illumination, and periscope detection. These
functions traditionally are performed by several separate shipboard radars.
In addition to the DD(X), the Navy plans to outfit both its next-generation
aircraft carrier (CVN-21) and its future amphibious assault ship (LHA(R))
with the dual-band radar. Factory-qualification testing for SPY-3 is scheduled
to start this summer, with land-based testing planned in fiscal year 2004.
The key acquisition milestones projected for DD(X) include a preliminary
design review to be completed in FY 2004, followed by a critical design
review in FY 2005. Lead ship award is scheduled for FY 2005, with delivery
in FY 2011. Initial operational capability is planned for FY 2013, following
a year of operational testing at sea.
Although the final number of DD(X)-class ships to be built has yet to
be determined, the current (FY 2004) budget request projects the funding
of eight ships in the "outyears" of the long-range shipbuilding
program--one each year from FY 2005 through FY 2007, two in FY 2008, and
three in FY 2009.
The Navy's senior leadership considers DD(X) to be one of the most advanced
warfighting systems ever conceived. With major research and development
investments in both advanced ship and combat systems optimized for littoral
environments, DD(X) will exploit enemy vulnerabilities on, above, and
below the sea while offering long-range precision firepower in support
of networked naval and joint forces ashore.
Operationally, this powerful multimission destroyer will serve both as
a versatile "sea base" and as a robust and netted C4ISR (command,
control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance)
"node" for future expeditionary strike group and joint-force
commanders, according to Goddard. Thanks primarily to its high payload
capacity, multi-spectral stealth features, revolutionary hull, and integrated
power system, this high-tech destroyer will take the fight to the enemy
with unprecedented striking power, sustainability, and survivability.
After nearly a decade of technical research, in-depth analyses, and the
recent program restructuring, the U.S. Navy is steaming ahead smartly
to acquire its future family of surface combatants, beginning with DD(X).
By applying the principles of spiral development and exploiting a unique
confluence of advanced technologies, the DD(X) program will not only facilitate
the transformation of today's surface force, but also lay the conceptual
foundation to model future generations of advanced warships. *
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