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By SCOTT C. TRUVER

Dr. Scott C. Truver is executive director of the center for security strategies and operations in the Techmatics Division of Anteon Corporation. This overview is based upon his group's support to the chief of naval operations publication, Vision ... Presence ... Power (1999 edition) and additional materials provided by Ms. Tonya Tanks of the CSSO's research staff.

During his remarks at the June 1999 Current Strategy Forum at the Naval War College, Adm. Jay L. Johnson, chief of naval operations (CNO), noted that long-period trends have influenced the way the American people focus on "The Navy." The Navy really becomes "four navies--the Navy of Yesterday, the Navy of Today, the Navy of Tomorrow, and the Navy After Next." What follows is a brief overview of some current programs that will ensure the Navies of Today, Tomorrow, and After Next have what it takes to meet the operational demands that will be placed upon them. "But," the CNO warned, "none of this will come to pass if we allow ourselves to be constrained by the rules that guided fading paradigms."

CVN-77/CVNX Nuclear-Powered Aircraft Carrier Programs

Overview: In a comprehensive two-track strategy, the Navy continues, first, to acquire Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers to replace the nation's last three aging oil-fired carriers on a one-for-one basis, and second, to design and engineer a next-generation nuclear-powered aircraft carrier (CVNX) that will be the foundation for sea-based naval aviation well past the mid-point of the next century. Since the late-1960s, when the baseline Nimitz design was finalized, the Navy's carrier force has not had the advantage of an aggressive and robust research-and-development (R&D) program to ensure that leading-edge technologies and systems continued to be inserted in subsequent hulls. Following initial studies the Navy established an approach and program in 1995 to have a revolutionary-design (CVX) reach the fleet in 2013, in time to replace the nation's first nuclear-powered carrier, the USS Enterprise, when it reaches 52 years of age. Fiscal reality, however, resulted in the Navy's mid-1998 decision to embark on an evolutionary program that will incorporate warfighting improvements and cost-saving measures at an affordable pace over three consecutive hulls beginning with CVN 77. A special effort is being made to reduce life-cycle costs in acquisition, operations, and support areas. The "Smart Carrier" initiative, for example, will take good advantage of previous "Smart Ship" innovations to enable reductions in crew size--the most expensive element of a ship's service life. Initial investments also will be made in an advanced nuclear plant and electrical-distribution system for CVN 77, which will be carried forward, along with other improvements, into the CVNX 1 and follow-on carriers. CVN 77 is scheduled to replace the USS Kitty Hawk in fiscal year (FY) 2008. Despite the modification to the schedule, the principal design objectives for the CVNX class remain intact: to reduce total ownership costs significantly during each carrier's 50-year service life and to provide a flexible infrastructure that will facilitate the insertion of new warfighting capabilities.

Status: Eight Nimitz-class carriers have been delivered, and Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) is currently under construction and scheduled for delivery in FY 2002, to replace the USS Constellation. The FY 2000­2005 Future-Years Defense Plan includes full funding for CVN 77 in FY 2001. Additional R&D funding was approved in FY 1999 to ensure that the follow-on CVNX 1 can be fully funded in FY 2006 to support an FY 2013 delivery. Follow-on, evolutionary-enhanced CVNXs are planned for construction starts in 2011 and at roughly five-year intervals beyond that date.

Contractor: Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Va.

SSN 774 Virginia-Class Nuclear-Powered Attack Submarine

Overview: Formerly dubbed the "New Attack Submarine," the Virginia-class (SSN 774) nuclear-powered attack submarine will provide advanced war-fighting and acoustic superiority and sustain minimum attack-submarine force levels as early units of the Los Angeles-class SSNs continue to leave the fleet. Although the Virginia class has been designed and engineered for traditional open-ocean antisubmarine and antisurface warfare missions, the primary design and combat-engineering focus has been on multimission operations in the littoral warfare environment. Key warfare tasks include offensive and defensive mining, mine countermeasures, reconnaissance, special operations forces insertion/extraction, battle-group support, intelligence collections and surveillance, and land attack/strike. Moreover, the SSN-774's modular design will allow it to be specifically configured to adapt easily to special missions and emerging future requirements; the weapons-handling space especially can be reconfigured to host an augmented special operations force or to support other special systems capabilities. The Virginia SSNs also will be fully configured to operate as integral elements within the Navy's emerging concept of Network Centric Warfare. The Virginias will be powered by life-of-ship S9G pressurized water reactors, two turbine engines, one shaft, and a pump-jet propulsor. Speeds in excess of 28 knots and depths greater than 800 feet have been advertised. For its management of the first major defense program to fully implement acquisition-reform initiatives, the Virginia-Class SSN Program Office (PMS450) has twice received the David Packard Award for Acquisition Excellence.

Status: Advanced procurement funding for the lead ship was approved in FY 1996 and full funding was provided in FY 1998. The keel of the Virginia was laid in September 1999; construction on the second ship of the class, Texas, began in FY 1999. The first four ships will be built under innovative teaming arrangements between General Dynamics Electric Boat Corporation (EB) and Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), under which construction of the first four ships will be shared by ship sections. EB will build all hull sections for use at EB and NNS, as well as the engine-room modules and command-and-control system operating spaces; NNS will build the bow, stern, sail, and selected forward sections for each submarine. EB will assemble the first and third ships, scheduled for delivery in FYs 2004 and 2006, respectively; NNS, the second and fourth, to be delivered in FYs 2005 and 2007. A total of 30 Virginia-class SSNs have been identified in Navy program planning. The acquisition strategy for SSN 778 and follow-on boats has not yet been determined and remains a congressional high-interest item. A program of at least two Virginia-class SSNs per year will be needed beginning in the middle of the next decade in order to maintain the QDR-approved 50-SSN minimum essential force level. The administration requested $1.106 billion for FY 2000 SSN-774 R&D and procurement; the House authorized $1.121 billion, and the Senate $1.116 billion.

Industry Partners: General Dynamics Electric Boat Corporation, Groton, Conn.; and Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Va.

DD-21 Land-Attack Destroyer

Overview: The DD-21 Land-Attack Destroyer will be the first surface combatant designed entirely upon post-Cold War analysis and emerging strategic and operational concepts, and will be the first in what may be a family of surface warships. The new destroyer will be armed with a powerful array of theater/maritime-dominance and land-attack weapons and sensors that will enable the DD-21 to provide offensive, distributed, and precise firepower at long ranges in direct support of operations ashore. DD-21 will, for example, incorporate the Advanced Gun System, a trainable 155mm/52-caliber gun capable of a rate of fire of up to 12 rounds per minute per barrel and ranges out to 100 nautical miles (nm). The system will have a magazine capacity of at least 750 rounds per gun and will be compatible with existing Army 155mm rounds as well as even more advanced guided rounds now under development. DD-21 will incorporate revolutionary "stealth" features and active signatures-management techniques to make these warships far less detectable to future adversaries and more survivable in combat than the ships they replace. It may, as well, incorporate leading-edge technologies and systems for integrated electric drive and advanced electrical-power switching systems. The DD-21s will replace the aging Oliver
Hazard Perry-class guided-missile frigates and Spruance-class destroyers to preserve the 116-surface-combatants force level validated by the 1997 Quadrennial Defense Review. Current plans show series production of three DD-21s per year. DD-21 affordability is a paramount concern; Navy program officials state that DD-21 will be far more affordable to build and operate--while maximizing its warfighting capabilities--than any of its predecessors. The Navy's cost "bogeys" for DD-21 show a procurement cost objective of $750 million (for the fifth ship, FY 1996 dollars) and an operations and support (O&S) cost goal of $2,700 (FY 1996 dollars) per hour underway, during each ship's 40-year service life--one-third that of a conventional surface warship today.

Status: On 12 January 1998, the under secretary of defense for acquisition and technology formally established the DD-21 program. The DD-21 acquisition strategy calls for industry teams to determine their own designs that will meet challenging operational requirements and aggressive affordability goals. In August 1998, the Navy awarded a contract for two competing teams to complete requirements analysis and trade-off studies, and to develop competitive DD-21 system-concept designs. Down-selection to a single design and life-cycle support "Full-Service Contractor" is planned for FY 2001. A total of 32 DD-21s will be acquired in what may total a $25 billion program, beginning with lead-ship construction in 2004 and initial operational capability (IOC) in 2009.

Industry Partners: DD-21 Alliance--Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, with Lockheed Martin Corporation, Bethesda, Md. ("Blue Team"); and Litton/Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Miss., with Raytheon, Los Angeles, Calif. ("Gold Team").

CG-47 Ticonderoga-Class Aegis Guided-Missile Cruiser Conversion Program

Overview: Twenty-seven Aegis
guided-missile cruisers have been acquired in one of the nation's most effective and complex acquisition programs. Centered on the Aegis weapon system and the SPY-1A/B multifunction phased-array radar system for highly effective fleet air defense, these ships also offer broad warfighting capabilities in other critical naval- and theater-warfare areas. The first five Baseline 1 cruisers have the Mk26 twin-rail guided-missile launching system installed, while the remaining 22 ships are fitted with the Mk41 VLS. The cruiser-conversion program is a mid-life warfighting capability upgrade that has initially focused on the Baseline 2 (CG 52 and later) VLS cruisers. Studies are underway to determine the cost and feasibility of extending some of the cruiser-conversion elements to the Baseline 1 cruisers. The current plan will provide the necessary systems upgrades to enable the Navy's deployment of Area Theater Ballistic Missile Defense (TBMD), land-attack weapons in support of the Marine Corps' Operational Maneuver from the Sea (OMFTS) and Ship-to-Objective Maneuver (STOM) concepts, and Area Air-Defense Commander (AADC) capability. Land-attack and strike-warfare enhancements include the upgraded 5-inch/62-caliber gun, the 63-nautical mile Extended-Range Guided Munition (ERGM), Tactical Tomahawk, Land-Attack Standard Missile (LASM), and the Advanced Land-Attack Missile (ALAM). The intended warfighting improvements will extend the Ticonderoga-class CG's relevancy well into the 21st century.

Program Status: Studies are currently under way for the program to begin in FY 2004.

Industry Partners: Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Miss.; and Lockheed Martin, Moorestown, N.J.

DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-Class Aegis Guided-Missile Destroyer

Overview: The state-of-the-art DDG-51 Aegis guided-missile destroyers have combat systems centered around the Aegis weapon system and the SPY-1D multifunction phased-array radar. The Burke's combat system includes the Mk41 vertical launching system (VLS), the SQQ-89 advanced antisubmarine system, SM-2 Block III/IV Standard surface-to-air missiles, and Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles. Future weapons could include the follow-on Tactical Tomahawk, scheduled for IOC in 2003, and the Land-Attack Standard Missile (LASM), which also is slated to enter service in FY 2003. Current Navy plans call for 800 LASMs and 1,353 "TacToms." A nascent program for an Advanced Land-Attack Missile--"ALAM"--also has begun to take shape. These advanced weapons will arm new-construction Burkes, beginning with DDG-81, the DD-21 Land-Attack Destroyers, and the ships receiving cruiser-conversion upgrades. The Flight IIA variant of the DDG-51 design incorporates hangars to support two embarked SH-60 helicopters (Flight I and II baselines could operate but not hangar helos), significantly improving the ships' sea-control capabilities. The SPY-1D(V) "littoral warfare radar" has successfully completed initial tests, underscoring its ability to detect and track low-observable antiship cruise missiles. In addition to the U.S. DDG-51s, the Burke design has been the baseline for the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force's four Kongo-class guided-missile destroyers. In January 1997, the Spanish Navy decided to acquire the SPY-1D and Aegis weapon system for its new-design F-100 frigates. Other allied navies (e.g., Norway, Australia, United Kingdom, Germany, Taiwan) also have shown an interest in acquiring the Aegis weapon system for their new surface warships. The Navy has continued to develop an upgrade to the Aegis weapon system that will be based on a flexible open-architecture system relying significantly on commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and software. The Aegis Baseline 7.1 system, scheduled to become operational in FY 2004, will in essence be a "bridge" to a Common Command and Decision System (CCDS) for all future surface warships.

Program Status: In mid-1999, 27 DDG-51s were operational; original plans called for a total of 57 ships to be acquired. A multiyear procurement of 12 ships in the FY 1998-2001 period was authorized by Congress and will save approximately $1 billion compared to traditional acquisition strategies--thus allowing the Navy to acquire the 12 ships for the price of about 11. This multiyear program was extended in the FY 2000 Authorization Conference Report to a total of 18 DDGs through FY 2003. Four and three DDGs were approved by Congress in FY 1998 and FY 1999, respectively. The Navy requested $2.858 billion for three ships in FY 2000; the House offered $2.883 billion, and the Senate $2.858 billion. The first Flight IIA destroyer, Oscar Austin (DDG 79), was launched in FY 1999.

Industry Partners: Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine; Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Miss.; and Lockheed Martin, Moorestown, N.J.

LPD-17 San Antonio-Class Amphibious Transport Dock Ship

Overview: The LPD 17 is an amphibious transport dock ship optimized for Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) lift requirements in the emerging Operational Maneuver from the Sea (OMFTS) and Ship-to-Objective Maneuver (STOM) concepts of operations. The LPD 17 is a medium-size (approximately 25,300 tons full load), medium-speed (greater than 20 knots, sustained), diesel-powered ship (four turbocharged diesels, two shafts, two outboard rotating fixed-pitch propellers), 682 feet in length, with a beam of 105 feet, and a crew of about 465; total accommodations allow for 1,228 personnel. The San Antonio will carry approximately 720 troops, and will have 25,400 square feet of space for vehicles; 25,500 cubic feet of cargo space; medical facilities (24 beds, two operating rooms); aviation facilities (organizational-level maintenance for three CH-46 helicopters or accommodations for a mix of AH-1, UH-1, CH-46, and CH-53E helicopters and MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft); and two landing craft air cushion (LCAC) vehicles. The 12 San Antonio-class LPDs planned in the program of record will replace the lift capabilities of 36 aging amphibious lift ships. With the seven Wasp-class amphibious assault ships (LHDs--an eighth Wasp-class LHD, not requested by the administration, has been included in the FY 2000 DOD Authorization Bill), five Tarawa-class amphibious assault ships (LHAs), and the 12 LPDs, the Navy will have the foundation for meeting the assault-echelon lift requirements of 2.5 Marine Expeditionary Brigade (MEB) equivalents during wartime and for sustaining approximately three forward-deployed Marine Expeditionary Units (MEUs) in peacetime.

Status: Initial contract award to design and build the lead ship--the San Antonio--was awarded to the Avondale Alliance in December 1996. The Alliance in mid-1999 is performing detail design, and production is expected to begin in FY 2000. Initial delivery is planned for early FY 2003. Under the terms of agreement between the Alliance members, Avondale will build the first of the class and, if the Navy exercises the first two options, Avondale would construct the second and Bath the third ships in the class. The administration's FY 2000 request included $1.51 billion for two San Antonio-class LPDs, which the House and Senate approved.

Industry Partners: Avondale Alliance--Avondale Industries, New Orleans, La.; Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine; Raytheon, San Diego, Calif.; and Intergraph, Huntsville, Ala.

F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Strike Fighter

Overview: The introduction of the Super Hornet to the fleet in 2001 will provide critically important growth margins, weapon bring-back improvements, survivability enhancements, and range/payload improvements--all of which are required for the continued "health" of U.S. naval aviation into the next century. The Navy already has designed extensive commonality features into the aircraft's weapons systems, avionics, and software/firmware among the several Hornet variants: 90 percent of the Hornet's avionics and weapons are common in an aircraft that is 25 percent larger and has just 10 percent structure commonality with the C/D variant. Operational costs are expected to benefit from the reliance upon the existing F/A-18 organizations and infrastructure. Naval aviation officials have confirmed that design and operational issues that came to light last year--primarily the "wing-drop" problem that resulted in unpredictable rocking of the aircraft at altitudes and speeds at which air combat maneuvers are expected to occur--have been corrected. The 1997 Quadrennial Defense Review determined that the number of F/A-18E/F aircraft procured will be slashed from 1,000 to no fewer than 548. Concurrently, the transition to the Joint Strike Fighter will be accelerated as much as possible, perhaps to begin in FY 2008. If such JSF-acquisition acceleration is not feasible, or if JSF introduction is shifted to the right in future budgets, additional F/A-18E/F acquisition, up to a total of 785 aircraft, will be pursued. The Navy also has begun to address the need for an F/A-18G variant of the F/A-18F to replace the EA-6B Prowler electronic-warfare aircraft that has been given joint electronic-warfare responsibilities following the demise of the Air Force's EF-111 Raven fleet. IOC is slated for FY 2001.

Status: The program concluded its three-year engineering-and-manufacturing development (EMD) phase in May 1999; low-rate initial production (LRIP) was approved in March 1997. Aircraft E-1 completed its first flight on 29 November 1995, the Super Hornet successfully completed sea trials and first carrier landing in January 1997, and the Navy/Boeing Integrated Test Team has tested the aircraft to Mach 1.75 and altitudes greater than 50,000 feet. On 27 May 1999, Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Nine (VX-9) began OPEVAL (operational evaluation) of the Super Hornet at China Lake, Calif. On 14 July, the Super Hornet passed a Live-Fire Test, and a week later Boeing delivered the eighth production aircraft. The Navy requested 36 Super Hornets in FY 2000--at a cost of $2.997 billion--and has proposed a six-year multiyear procurement, beginning in FY 2000, that will enable the acquisition of 222 aircraft at the same cost as 200 aircraft acquired through a traditional strategy. The Senate Armed Services Committee approved the multiyear plan in its FY 2000 DOD Authorization Bill and included $3 billion in funding; the House authorized $3.04 billion.

Industry Partners: Boeing, St. Louis, Mo.; Northrop Grumman, El Segundo, Calif. Engine: GE Aircraft Engines, Lynn, Mass.

Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)

Overview: The Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is the Department of Defense's program to design, engineer, and acquire affordable next-generation strike aircraft weapon systems for the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and key U.S. allies. The United Kingdom is a collaborative partner in the program; Canada, Denmark, Italy, Norway, and The Netherlands are associated partners. Singapore and Turkey have become Foreign Military Sales participants. The focus of the program remains on affordability--reducing the developmental cost, acquisition/production costs, and cost of ownership of the JSF family of aircraft--while ensuring that the aircraft can meet the projected operational requirements and defeat projected threats in the post-2010 period. All variants are to be 70 percent to 90 percent common. The JSF variants will support the following requirements:

U.S. Navy:
First-day-of-war-survivable strike fighter to complement F/A-8E/F Super Hornet

U.S. Marine Corps:
Advanced Short-Takeoff/Vertical Landing (ASTOVL) multirole aircraft to replace AV-8B+ Harrier and F/A-18C/D Hornet

U.S. Air Force:
Multirole aircraft (primarily air-to-ground with secondary air-superiority role) to replace the F-16 Falcon and A-10 Warthog and complement the F-22

U.K. Royal Navy:
Supersonic ASTOVL fighter to replace the Sea Harrier

The JSF's planned combat radius is greater than 600 miles with two Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) and two AIM-120C AMRAAMs in internal bays; more than 12,000 pounds of ordnance/stores can be carried externally. Instead of the 942 multimission stealthy JSFs originally planned for the Navy (300) and Marine Corps (642), the May 1997 Report of the Quadrennial Defense Review called for 1,089 naval JSFs (480 carrier-capable variants for the Navy and 609 ASTOVL variants for the Marine Corps). The total JSF buy has been reduced from 2,978 to 2,852 aircraft, and the maximum planned production rate of 195 aircraft per year for all services--and perhaps more earmarked for Foreign Military Sales--will be reached in 2012 rather than 2010, principally because of affordability constraints.

Program Status: The JSF Program completed its Concept Development Phase in December 1994, and in November 1996 the designs from Lockheed Martin and Boeing were selected to compete in the JSF Demonstration Phase; first flight is planned for 2000. In July 1999, Boeing successfully completed the first test phase of the vehicle-management system for its X-32A demonstrator. A single prime contractor will be selected for EMD in FY 2001, and IOC for the Marine Corps' ASTOVL variant is planned for 2008. The administration requested $476.6 million in FY 2000 R&D funding; the House authorized $576.6 million, and the Senate, $491.6 million.

Industry Partners: Lockheed Martin and Boeing are the prime contractors for competing weapon systems concept demonstration. The Pratt & Whitney (Palm Beach, Fla.) F119 engine and Allison Engine Company (Indianapolis, Ind.) F120 are competing candidates for the propulsion system.

EA-6B Prowler Electronic Warfare Aircraft

Overview: The EA-6B Prowler electronic warfare (EW) aircraft have played increasingly important roles in suppressing enemy air defenses in the post-Cold War world, from Operation Desert Storm against Iraq in 1991 to Operation Allied Force in Yugoslavia and Kosovo during the spring of 1999. The Defense Department's decision to retire all Air Force EF-111A Raven EW aircraft dramatically increased--by default--the value of the EA-6B to joint radar-jamming roles. According to various accounts, Prowlers accompanied all F-117A and B-2 "stealth" aircraft after an F-117 was shot down in the early days of Operation Allied Force. The "lessons-learned" from the Kosovo crisis have generated a need for an additional squadron of the aircraft, and upgrades will be accelerated.

Program Status: Only about 123 EA-6B aircraft remain in the Navy/Marine Corps inventory in 1999; of the 19 squadrons, the Navy operates 15 (four aircraft each) and the Marines four (five aircraft each). In late August 1999, the Navy announced that it was going to stand up a fifth "expeditionary" squadron in 2003. Ten of the Navy's squadrons are deployed with carriers. The Prowler fleet is being modernized and upgraded to meet evolving threats and preserve aircraft safety for sustained operations worldwide until the resources can be identified for a post-2010 Common Support Aircraft EW variant. (Naval aviation leaders, however, have recently commented on the need to address a "Wild Weasel"-like EW variant for the Super Hornet--an F/A-18G.) The aircraft is expected to begin leaving the Navy's inventory in 2015. The Block 89A upgrade program, which currently is being tested for an FY 2000 IOC, addresses structural and supportability requirements for an aging aircraft and also includes numerous avionics improvements for safety of flight and joint interoperability. Follow-on improvements to the aircraft's ALQ-99 tactical jamming system include the Improved Capabilities (ICAP) III upgrade (planned IOC in FY 2004), new high- and low-frequency transmitters, and continuing structural enhancements. For FY 2000, the Navy requested $161 million for EA-6B upgrades; the House and Senate authorization conferees increased that amount by $25 million to acquire additional modified band 9/10 transmitters. The ICAP III upgrades were originally to be earmarked for eight aircraft per year, beginning in FY 2002. DOD sources indicate that this will be accelerated to 15 Prowlers per year.

Contractor: Northrop Grumman, Bethpage, N.Y. 

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