It can’t because we didn’t buy any ammo for it and the program was cancelled, tooling destroyed. We would have to start an all new development program now to make ammo for it. Cute, huh?
I would also point out the recent Keystone Kops incidents with US Navy destroyers hitting large merchant vessels. The entire Navy at this point has huge problems.
We probably could still get ammo but it cost a million bucks per she’ll. Kinda like that $60k hammer they used to talk about.
Not defending the Navy on this one, but the Navy is juggling budget priorities. They *may* have concluded that saving the investment in the DD-1000 was more important than the gun rounds — which can be adapted from pre-existing rounds until the real-deal is ready.
How many times has the Airforce or the Navy fielded a fighter only to have the engine it was designed for canceled? I can think of a few.