Posted on 11/23/2005 3:10:05 PM PST by Pharmboy
The deckhouse of an experimental naval destroyer, the DD
(X), pictured here at China Lake, California in an undated photo.
The Pentagon has opted to move ahead with the new multibillion-
dollar destroyer being co-developed by Northrop Grumman Corp. and
General Dynamics, Navy officials said on Wednesday.
(Handout/Reuters)
The Pentagon will order an initial eight highly-automated DD(X) destroyers being developed by Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE:NOC - news) and General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - news) as the centerpiece of the U.S. Navy's 21st century fleet, a defense official said on Wednesday.
Ending speculation the ship might be killed, the Defense Department cleared a plan to let both Los Angeles-based Northrop and General Dynamics, Falls Church, Virginia, each go ahead with detailed design work, the Pentagon said.
The chief U.S. weapons buyer, Kenneth Krieg, also approved "low rate initial production" of eight ships after a meeting on Tuesday of the Defense Acquisition Board, which considers major weapons systems, said the defense official who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak about the matter.
He estimated the value of the eight ships at $20 billion.
The DD(X) will have substantially lower radar and acoustic "signatures" -- making it harder for an enemy to find and hit -- and be highly automated to cut crew size by more than half compared with current destroyer levels.
It will incorporate new technologies that also would be used in a new aircraft carrier and a new cruiser. The Navy hopes the first DD(X) will be delivered in 2012.
Cheryl Irwin, a Pentagon spokeswoman, confirmed that Krieg had cleared the program to enter a big-money phase known as "system development and demonstration." But she said she had no information on the number of ships to be built.
No construction contracts would be awarded until a further session of the acquisition board, the defense official said, citing a memorandum from Krieg that was not made public.
TWIN BUILDING PROJECTS
Navy officials said Krieg had cleared a Navy request to start the acquisition program with a "dual lead ship" strategy using fiscal 2007 funds.
According to this Northrop and General Dynamics each will build a ship of its own to meet requirements set by the Pentagon and the Navy, Navy spokesman Lt. John Gay said. On completion, the Navy will recommend whether to continue splitting the construction or go with one of the two yards.
Such a decision may be made in 2008 or 2009, said the defense official. Each of the two initial ships to be built -- one by each yard -- is projected to cost $3.3 billion. The Navy hopes to drive down the price of future ships to $2.2 billion.
Krieg gave the go-ahead after a "Milestone B" review -- the decision on whether to let DD(X) advance despite expected delays or cuts in other big-ticket weapons programs as the United States copes with war costs, a growing deficit and hurricane relief, among other headaches.
Key senators had blocked the Navy's earlier-proposed "winner-take-all" approach to building DD(X), which it said would cost less, on the ground it likely would knock the losing company out of the business of building surface warships.
The Pentagon's DD(X) decision "takes us through a critical threshold," said Randy Belote, a spokesman for Northrop, which would build its version of the ship at its Pascagoula, Mississippi, shipyard.
General Dynamics, which would build at its Bath Iron Works yard in Bath, Maine, had no immediate comment.
Northrop shares fell 16 cents on Wednesday to close at $56.49 on the New York Stock Exchange. General Dynamics's shares rose 2 cents to $116.16.
In a way, it's sort of full circle back to the ironclads of Civil War fame. Love the look!
Had they not had their supply of Uranium from Germany cut off toward the end of the war, they were planning to fit some kamikaze planes with nukes and use this sub to attack the W. Coast of the US.
Several of them were wiped out. The company I work for supplies them with equipment. We are working 3 shifts, 7 days to build them all new stuff.
That hangar is still there. It's a major landmark along US-101 in the burbs south of SF.
Try this on for size. A 5000 drone attack followed by the modern day equivalent of slow but deadly Stukas. We love high tech, fast, expensive, manned systems. The Chinese have other ideas. That said, I do note they are stocking up on Su-30s and MiG-29s (and will likely license and build more of them). Among other things.
WOW, We are grateful for your work. Thank you.
Tanks alot. FReepers don't let you get away with any factual sloppiness. It is something to be thankful for.
ROV Ventana pilots recovered a bunch of gear including dinner plates, etc. The original sonar work was done by the Navy. The guy at MBARI who organized the mission is Chris Greck, Asst Dir of Ops. He got Packard involved and the sonar data kindof showed up one day...
I'll poke around for more info.
gobblegobble
The Merrimack was never detected by radar.
It'd be sweet if she could submerge.
Like I've always said, Any ship can be a submarine...Once! It's the surfacing that's the tricky part.
USS Akron, and USS Macon. It's been done. (Just not very successfully.)
Burning ships floating to the bottom at that.
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