Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

US Navy in a losing race to close China fleet gap
Asia Times ^ | JANUARY 15, 2024 | By GABRIEL HONRADA

Posted on 01/15/2024 5:44:12 PM PST by Red Badger

US Navy to upgrade four Arleigh Burke-class destroyers with updated kit but China’s superior fleet size would likely win any sea war

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The US Navy is significantly upgrading four Arleigh Burke-class destroyers with advanced radars and electronic warfare systems in an apparent stopgap bid to counterbalance China’s growing naval might.

This month, The Warzone reported that the US Navy has named the USS Pinckney, USS James E Williams, USS Chung Hoon and USS Halsey for the upgrades.

The upgrades will include the new AN/ALQ-32(V)7 Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program (SEWIP) Block III electronic warfare suite, thermal management systems, the new AN/SPY-6(V)4 radar and an improved version of the Aegis Combat System.

The SEWIP Block III suite features active electronically scanned array technology, allowing powerful bursts of radio-frequency energy to launch electronic attacks on multiple targets. The US Navy is also acquiring two other radars in the SPY-6 family for integration on other ships.

The Warzone says that the US Navy is upgrading an initial four Arleigh Burke destroyers to the so-called Mod 2.0 configuration in two phases, with the first phase receiving all components except for the new radar.

Other ships in the class will be upgraded to the Mod 2.0 configuration after the first four Arleigh Burke destroyers. The US Navy is also acquiring new Flight III Arleigh Burkes, which will become the US Navy’s primary air defense command and control platform afloat.

At the same time, the US Navy is planning to develop a larger class of destroyers, known as DDG(X) with a displacement of around 13,500 tons, in fiscal year 2032 without disrupting Arleigh Burke production.

The DDG-51 Mod 2.0, or DDG 2.0 standard, may be a stopgap solution until newer Arleigh Burke Flight III and DDG(X) hulls come into service, providing high-end surface warfare capabilities to replace the Ticonderoga class.


TOPICS: Government; History; Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-48 next last
To: Fai Mao

Not to mention the knowledge that built them has long died out.


21 posted on 01/15/2024 6:16:06 PM PST by Tijeras_Slim
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Mariner

I’ll make the same argument. We can’t deploy the entire USAF over there.


22 posted on 01/15/2024 6:24:29 PM PST by ealgeone
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

.


23 posted on 01/15/2024 6:35:22 PM PST by sauropod (The obedient always think of themselves as virtuous rather than cowardly.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Fai Mao

Just think of the military hardware we could have had if El Retardo hadn’t handed all our money over to corrupt Ukraine.


24 posted on 01/15/2024 6:36:57 PM PST by EinNYC
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: ansel12
If they are not now, they soon will be.

It's like 1941. Regardless of the militaries on Pearl Harbor day, US industrial production was going to win eventually.

Now its China that dominates industry production.


25 posted on 01/15/2024 6:38:03 PM PST by Reverend Wright ( Everything touched by progressives, dies !)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Reverend Wright

Even in a single day it is hard to keep up with all your negative postings against America, it is strange that you do this all day, every day.


26 posted on 01/15/2024 6:44:48 PM PST by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: ansel12; All

I wish I had better news.

I get that Boomers want to imagine it is still 1992, and the USA is still top dog. But 30+ years of de-industrialization has created the world we have, not the world we wish we still had.

The reality of Western Decline is what it is, with the USA leading the way.

It’s simply delusional to be planning to militarily “take on” China with this kind of lopsided industrial output.

Not to mention the major US military contractors dependent on Chinese subcontractors.

The “pivot to Asia” is a joke, and was over before it even began.

https://dailycaller.com/2023/06/19/raytheon-china-greg-hayes-decoupling/


27 posted on 01/15/2024 6:51:59 PM PST by Reverend Wright ( Everything touched by progressives, dies !)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: Reverend Wright

You don’t deliver news, no matter the variety of topics during the day your entire day is spent denigrating America, all day, every day, and for some reason you think people don’t gain in knowledge and experience as they mature on the topics they are interested in and experienced in, which shows ignorance on your part.

Your constant and never wavering negativity is strange, especially for a foreigner whose entire day is spent attacking this nation with lavish and passionate persistence while never taking a break from it, ever.


28 posted on 01/15/2024 7:00:15 PM PST by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: Williams
They hope to psyche the US and it’s allies out of fighting.

They don't have to psyche out Brandon. Just tug his collar a little bit.

29 posted on 01/15/2024 7:10:11 PM PST by Colorado Doug (Now I know how the Indians felt to be sold out for a few beads and trinkets)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Tijeras_Slim

The turbines (Engines) could be replaced perhaps even with a more efficient diesel. We have those available. The issue is cutting through the armored decks to get at the machinery. In the 1930’s the Royal Navy replaced the turbines in the Queen Elizabeth class battleships, and they had to replace the superstructure completely to do it. But the only reason they did that, rather than new ships was the Washing Naval Treaty prohibited new construction.

It isn’t so much technology as the facilities to make the guns that big. Forges could be built to do it but for only 36 cannon barrels, it would be cost-prohibitive.

A better (probably cheaper) solution is to figure out the issues on the Electromagnetic Railgun they were developing and to install more powerful lasers on ships.


30 posted on 01/15/2024 7:12:22 PM PST by Fai Mao (Starve the Beast and steal its food.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Reverend Wright
That level of quantity difference will overcome any quality deficit.

And we have lost most of our heavy manufacturing ability. We produced war machines for everybody in WW ll. We can hardly supply Ukraine these days.

31 posted on 01/15/2024 7:12:42 PM PST by Colorado Doug (Now I know how the Indians felt to be sold out for a few beads and trinkets)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

I think China builds something like 20 ships for every 1 ship we build. So thank you Labor Unions, you’ve pretty much ended the US as a superpower.


32 posted on 01/15/2024 7:16:35 PM PST by BobL (Trump gets my vote, even if I have to write him in; Millions of others will do the same)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Comment #33 Removed by Moderator

To: Reverend Wright

No, you aren’t seeing that, you are seeing people talking about the ability of the American Navy and American air power versus the Chinese Navy with other allied nations’ navies and air power being part of the mix.


34 posted on 01/15/2024 7:29:36 PM PST by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: ansel12

What the balance of forces in the first week doesn’t really matter.

Wars “are not over by Christmas”.

They go on for years. And for all out peer war, almost all the original equipment and personnel are gone by the end of year two.

I’ll give you an example relevant for a Pacific War.

In WW2 the British started with 180 odd destroyers. During the war they had 140 sunk, bought or built many more and ended up with 300+.

Tell me what the balance of forces vs china will be on day 720, when the USA has less than 10 percent of their steel capacity, (and not much more heavy manufacturing capacity)


35 posted on 01/15/2024 7:48:48 PM PST by Reverend Wright ( Everything touched by progressives, dies !)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: Colorado Doug

Yeah. It’s heavy industry. It’s also electronic components imported from China by the major military contractors.

It’s also the trained personnel to do that kind of factory work. The factories shut down and move offshore. The firms that build machinery for factories shut down. The tool and die makers change industries, retire, die. The trade schools shut those programs due to lack of demand. There are no younger guys entering the industry - because it doesn’t exit.

... and now we are in 2023, where it takes 3 years to build a single forging press for artillery ammunition. And only one small company in the whole country able to do it.


36 posted on 01/15/2024 7:54:54 PM PST by Reverend Wright ( Everything touched by progressives, dies !)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: Reverend Wright

LOL, you do go on with that steel fixation that America is the 4th largest steel maker in the world and its allies and friends cover almost all the rest of the major slots, that always seems to be your reason for why the American Navy and allied Navies and American and allied Air Forces are no match for the Chinese navy.

You seem to think the free world will be fighting the Chinese navy all over the world for many years, equally matched, the world against the new Chinese navy while Chinese shipyards are untouched and pumping out new ships to overwhelm the world’s fleets that would be allying with the United States if the China/US war takes place.


37 posted on 01/15/2024 8:05:16 PM PST by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: ansel12
Steel production is a good proxy for industrial capacity, just like it was in 1941.

Unlike WW2, what remains of the US industrial base will not be immune from attack. Same for China, and S Korea, and Japan.

The USA will not be a major player because it doesn't have the steel or shipbuilding capacity to matter.

What the USA has gets sunk, and then they are out of it. Just like the UK would have been in WW2 if they couldn't replace their destroyers.


38 posted on 01/15/2024 8:21:39 PM PST by Reverend Wright ( Everything touched by progressives, dies !)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: Reverend Wright

So we really are no match for your Chinese and “The USA will not be a major player” in a war against China.

It seems that in your foreigner baby boomer mind America, Europe, and our Pacific allies are no match for your Russians and Communist China.


39 posted on 01/15/2024 8:28:09 PM PST by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: ansel12

“The USA will not be a major player” in a war against China.


In my view no. Not after year one losses. No significant shipyard capacity to replace large losses.


“... in your foreigner baby boomer mind America, Europe, and our Pacific allies are no match for your Russians”


When it comes to artillery ammunition, that seems to be the case.

The 32 countries of NATO, plus Japan plus S Korea, plus Australia can’t match Russia after two years.

That’s over a billion people and half the world’s gdp.

That says something about the ability to actually execute on something they say is a priority.


40 posted on 01/15/2024 8:42:44 PM PST by Reverend Wright ( Everything touched by progressives, dies !)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-48 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson