US Navy DDG 1000 Zumwalt Class

A year after the Navy decided to abandon the Long Range Land Attack Projectile (LRLAP) for the Zumwalt-class guided-missile destroyer, there is no plan in place for a replacement round for the Advanced Gun System (AGS) the ships are built around, service officials said on Wednesday.

Instead, officials at Naval Sea Systems Command and the Chief of Naval Operations staff will monitor new technologies that could be incorporated into the BAE Systems-built 155mm AGS.

“There is not a plan now for a material specific solution for the replacement round. We continue to monitor industry’s development and technical maturation,” former USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) commander Capt. James Kirk, who now works at the Navy’s surface warfare directorate, said at the annual Surface Navy Association symposium.
“An example of that is the hypervelocity projectile. We’re monitoring that technical maturation to see if we get the ranges and the capabilities that’s the right bang for the buck.”

The Navy canceled a planned buy of the 2,000 rocket-assisted Lockheed Martin LRLAP rounds that were custom-designed for the AGS system that was set to be the heart of the Zumwalt class. However, the cost of each round rose to about $1 million and proved too costly for the service. In 2016 the Navy was moving toward modifying

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to fill the space of the LRLAP, but the service has since scrapped those plans.

On a visit to the ship in 2016, program officials told USNI News the unique low-twist nature of the AGS barrel would make the modification of the system accommodate a new round a difficult proposition.

With no new round on the horizon and the fielding of a hypervelocity projectile possibly a decade away, the focus of the ship will now be on long-range surface and land strike missions, Kirk said on Wednesday.

Last month, director of surface warfare Rear Adm. Ron Boxall told USNI News

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.

“We’re always watching industry to see what will come up as the best opportunity, but the big thing now is the requirement that the Navy has – as you can understand, the threats always changing,” DDG-1000 program manager Capt. Kevin Smith said at the SNA event.
“This is a multi-mission ship, and so there’s a lot of things this ship can do.”

In addition to the AGS, each ship in the class fields 80 Mk 54 vertical launch system cells that are capable of fielding the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile, Standard Missile-2 and the anti-air Evolved SeaSparrow Missile (ESSM), Kirk and Smith said. The pair would not confirm if the ship would eventually field the SM-6 but said there would be additional clarity on the changes in the class as part of the Fiscal Year 2019 budget submission expected in February.

Currently, Zumwalt is in the midst of a combat systems activation period after transiting from shipbuilder Bath Iron Works to Naval Station San Diego, Calif.

“What I can tell you is, while it’s not going as rapidly as we wanted, we thought it was going to go, being the first-in-a-class ship, first-in-a-class combat system, there’s a lot of things we’re working on,” outgoing commander of U.S. Surface Forces Vice Adm. Tom Rowden said on Tuesday at SNA.
“I am very very pleased with the performance of the crew, the performance of the commanding officer, and the great work that’s being done on the ship every single day. We’ve got to get DDG-1000 ready, and we’re taking our time to do that, and we’re focused on making sure that when we get her out and start executing the combat system activation portion we’ll do that very well.”
It’s unclear if the changes proposed to the class will delay the planned first deployment of Zumwalt, currently slated for 2021.

The second ship, Michael Monsoor (DDG-1001), is near completion and set to be delivered this year to the Navy before traveling to San Diego. The third ship, Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG-1002), is set to deliver to 2020. Combined, the Navy has spent about $23 billion on research, development and acquisition of the three-ship class.

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Jura said:

inside the USNI News No New Round Planned For Zumwalt Destroyer Gun System; Navy Monitoring Industry

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:
“What I can tell you is, while it’s not going as rapidly as we wanted, we thought it was going to go, being the first-in-a-class ship, first-in-a-class combat system, there’s a lot of things we’re working on,” outgoing commander of U.S. Surface Forces Vice Adm. Tom Rowden said on Tuesday

let me see again, "it's not going as rapidly as we wanted"
huh?

the full text, anyway:

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180201-N-N2201-001
Bath, Maine (Feb. 1, 2018) The Navy's next generation destroyer, the future USS Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001), successfully completed acceptance. The U.S. Navy's Board of Inspection and Survey reviewed the ship and its crew during a series of demonstrations both pier side and underway, evaluating the ship's construction and compliance with Navy specifications. (U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Bath Iron Works/Released)

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Jura said:

I admit the picture is cool:

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Jura said:

... I feel it's time to also repeat Friday at 9:56 AM

Jura said:

...
Commissioned: 15 October 2016
to the USN, so:

1. what's her combat value?
2. what's the status of her
   20 × MK 57
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   modules?
3. can she sail under her own power now?

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I wonder how is she going to strike other surface vessels, and when

("... the service plans to shift the core mission of the ship from supporting ground forces close to the littorals to striking other surface vessels, Kirk said." in DefenseNews link here)

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Jura said:

Jan 11, 2018
the answer to "how" is supposedly in:

"The service’s 2019 budget request includes a request for $89.7 million to transform its

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by integrating Raytheon’s long-range SM-6 missile, which can dual hat as both an anti-air and anti-surface missile, as well as its Maritime Strike variant of the Tomahawk missile."

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so, they'll stuff the Zumwalt with
anti-aircraft

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(four mil per stick, by the way)
huh?

a new mission of twenty+ bil program

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The Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) includes a long-term plan that could put nuclear cruise missiles aboard the new

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(DDG 1000) of stealthy

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destroyers, according to the commander of U.S. Strategic Command.

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Gen. John Hyten, StratCom chief, said the plan to develop a new, low-yield nuclear Sea-Launched Cruise Missile (SLCM, or "Slick-em") would not be limited to using ballistic submarines as the sole launch platform, as many assumed when the NPR was endorsed by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis earlier this month.

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"It's important to know that the NPR, when it talks about the Sea-Launched Cruise Missile, does not say 'Submarine-Launched Cruise Missile,' " Hyten said in a Feb. 16 keynote address in Washington, D.C., at the National Defense University's Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction.

In response to questions, he said, "We want to look at a number of options -- everything from surface DDG 1000s into submarines, different types of submarines" for the SLCMs.

"That's what the president's budget has requested of us -- to go look at those platforms, and we're going to walk down that path," Hyten said.

The USS Zumwalt, the first of three new stealthy destroyers billed by the Navy as the world's largest and most technologically advanced surface combatants, experienced numerous cost overruns in construction and problems in sea trials. It also broke down while

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.

The second ship in the Zumwalt class, the Michael Monsoor, had to cut short sea trials in December

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.

The NPR called for the development of two new, low-yield nuclear weapons -- the SCLM and a new submarine-launched ballistic missile.

Hyten said the U.S. will be modifying "a small number of existing submarine-launched ballistic missile warheads to provide a prompt, low-yield capability, as well as pursuing a modern nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile in the longer term."

He added, with some regret, that both are necessary to enhance U.S. deterrence against growing tactical and strategic nuclear threats from Russia and China.

"I don't have the luxury of dealing with the world the way I wish it was," he said. "We, as a nation, have long desired a world with no or at least fewer nuclear weapons. That is my desire as well. The world, however, has not followed that path."

New developments with the Xian H6K strategic bomber, a version of the Russian Tupolev Tu-16 twin-engine bomber, has given China a nuclear triad of bombers, land-based missiles and submarines "for the first time," Hyten said.

He also cited repeated statements from Russian President Vladimir Putin about modernizing his own nuclear force and developing a new generation of low-yield weapons. "Russia has been clear about their intent all along," he said.

In the question-and-answer period at National Defense University, an official from the Russian Embassy in Washington challenged the general's assessment of the threat posed by his country.

Hyten responded, "We listen very closely to what your president says, and then watch closely" through a variety of means to see Putin's thoughts put into action. "We have to consider those a threat."

Earlier, he said, "Our adversaries are building and operating these strategic weapons, not as a science experiment, but as a direct threat to the United States of America."

In an address preceding Hyten's, Pentagon policy chief David Trachtenberg said that the new NPR developed for the Trump administration should not be seen as a divergence from the 2010 NPR adopted by the Obama administration.

"Contrary to some commentary, the Nuclear Posture Review does not go beyond the 2010 NPR in expanding the traditional role of nuclear weapons," said Trachtenberg, deputy undersecretary of defense for policy.

"The goal of our recommendations is to deter war, not to fight one," he said. "If nuclear weapons are employed in conflict, it is because deterrence failed, and the goal of the 2018 NPR is to make sure that deterrence will not fail."

However, "it is clear that our attempts to lead by example in reducing the numbers and salience of nuclear weapons in the world have not been reciprocated," Trachtenberg said.

Russia and China have made clear their intentions to "expand the numbers and capabilities" of their nuclear arsenals, he said.

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Advanced Gun System was holding back the Navy’s new stealth destroyer
5 hours ago

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, the Navy’s top requirements officers said Tuesday.

The Navy announced in February in budget justification documents that it intended to integrate

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and was changing the mission from a land-attack platform to a ship killer.

In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee’s seapower subcommittee, Vice Adm. Bill Merz told senators that the slow development of the AGS prompted the change.

The AGS, in conjunction with the Long-Range Land Attack Projectile, was supposed to fire a round more than 80 nautical miles. The Navy canceled the projectile after truncating the total Zumwalt-class buy to three ships pushed the cost per round up to more than $800,000 per round. Furthermore, the system was also failing to achieve the range it wanted out of the system, Merz said.



“Even at the high cost, we still weren’t really getting what we had asked for,” he said. “So what we’ve elected to do is to separate the gun effort from the ship effort because we really got to the point where now we’re holding up the ship.”

Merz said the ship was ready to start its life with the fleet and that the larger MK 57 vertical-launch system canisters will allow for more advanced weapons to be developed and fired from the ship.

“It does have 80 vertical launch cells. Those are the larger variety cell, so that opens up opportunities for advanced development on our weapons side also. Our combat system is very good as are inherent ship capabilities.

“We think the ship is very well-built, ready to join the fleet. We’re very excited to get her and we’ll continue to develop the rounds for the gun in parallel.”

Mission Change & Gun System Blues

The Navy has moved ahead with a plan to add SM-6 on to Zumwalt, which allows the Navy to engage surface targets and extremely long ranges among other missions.

In August, the

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a medium-range ballistic missile target with the SM-6, which uses a fragmenting explosion near its target as the kill mechanism.

This is different from the SM-3 Block IIA in development that hits its target directly. SM-6 can also be used to hit surface targets at sea and on land from hundreds of miles away.

Beefing up the ship-killing armament even further will be the new and improved maritime version of the Tomahawk, which could be loaded into the MK-57 VLS.


For the Maritime Tomahawk, Raytheon is integrating a new seeker into its tried-and-true strike missile for long-range ship-on-ship engagements. The land-attack version has a range of more than 1,350 nautical miles.

But the sticking point for the Navy in the development of the Zumwalt-class has been the gun.

In January, Zumwalt’s former commanding officer, Capt. James Kirk, said the Navy was in a holding pattern on the guns. While the service is keeping an eye on a couple key technologies that could fill in the gap left by LRLAP, “there is not a plan right now for a specific materiel solution for the replacement round,” Kirk told reporters at the Surface Navy Association symposium.

“We continue to monitor industry’s development and technical maturation. An example of that is the Hyper Velocity Projectile,” he said, referring to a high speed guided munition made by BAE Systems and originally developed for use in electromagnetic rail guns.

“We’re monitoring that technical maturation to see do we get there to get the kind of ranges and capabilities we want, that’s the right bang for the buck, cost to capability, for the Navy. We’re monitoring that, but we have not made a decision for that yet.”

The Navy got in its present pickle with the 155mm/62-caliber gun with automated magazine and handling system because the service cut the buy from 28 ships, to seven, and finally to three.

The AGS, the largest U.S. naval gun system since World War II, was developed specifically for the Zumwalt class, as was the LRLAP round it was intended to shoot. There was no backup plan so when the buy went from 28 to thee, the costs stayed static, driving the price of the rounds through the roof.

“We were going to buy thousands of these rounds,” said a Navy official familiar with the program told Defense News

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. “But quantities of ships killed the affordable round.”

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