DDG-51 Arleigh Burke - Upgrades
Navy destroyers have historically been retired by 30 years of service. In recent force planning for ships, the Navy uses notional estimated service lives of 35 years for Aegis-capable cruisers and all current classes of destroyers.
There has been no determination to use DDG 51 designs, solutions, processes, systems or shipyards in the DD-21 program. Rumors to the contrary, the Navy states that there is no "DDG 51 Class Transition" program under which later DDG 51 class ships would be configured to accommodate DD 21 mission systems and would perhaps then evolve to become the DD 21 Class. There is no plan, proposal, or program under consideration that causes DDG 51 ships to meet DD 21 requirements.
The DDG 51 baseline upgrade plan incrementally improves DDG 51 systems in a time phased manner. These improvements are centered on currently planned upgrades included in Aegis Baseline 6 Phase III, Baseline 7 Phase I, Baseline 7 Phase II, and selected implementation of Smart Ship technologies. Some of these capabilities are planned for backfit into CG 47 class ships. The Navy plans to upgrade the ship’s multifunctional phased array radar to improve its capabilities while operating in littoral environments and add new capabilities to permit sharing targeting data with other Navy and joint sensors and defend against theater ballistic missiles.
Since 1994, the ship self-defense capability on this class of destroyers has been limited. In 1999, the Navy had assessed the ship self-defense capability of this class as having moderate capability against the near-term threat requirement, low to moderate capability against the mid-term threat requirement, and low capability against the far-term threat requirement. The Navy's representation of the ship self-defense capability of this class may be overstated with regard to its weapon systems. The assessment is based on the assumption that the class has been equipped with the Phalanx Block 1A, but as of September 30, 1999, only 13 of the 28 destroyers in the fleet have this variant. Alternatively, the assessment assumed that the destroyers were equipped with only the electronic support version of SLQ-32, when in fact 11 of the 28 destroyers in the fleet are equipped with the upgraded electronic warfare version of SLQ-32. The Navy expects to upgrade DDG 51-78 with CEC, the baseline 6 version of the Aegis weapon system, an upgraded Standard Missile II variant, and NULKA. The Navy plans to install the ESSM on DDG 79 and subsequent ships. The Navy expects these upgrades to give these ships a high capability against both the near- and mid-term threat requirements and moderate capability against the far-term threat requirement.
The Navy planned to begin deployment of the remote minehunting vehicle system on a select number of Arleigh Burke class Flight IIA destroyers beginning in 2005. One of the greatest threats to today’s naval battlegroup is mines. In fact, of the 18 U.S. Navy ships destroyed or damaged in conflicts since 1950, mines caused no fewer than 14 of those casualties. To give the modern battlegroup the optimum chance of survival in hostile "brown water" regions, the Program Executive Office for Mine & Undersea Warfare (PEO MUW) began the development of an organic mine-hunting capability to be carried aboard the Navy’s Aegis destroyers. These ships are traditionally among the first surface combatants to enter the littorals ahead of a battlegroup. Once launched from the host ship, the vehicle deploys a towed variable depth sensor (VDS) designed to detect, localize, classify and identify moored and bottom mines in deep and shallow water. The 23-foot long vehicle searches for the mines under the surface of the water. A streamlined combination snorkel and antenna mast, which draws air to the vehicle’s 370 hp Cummins diesel engine, will be its only visible feature above the surface. The remote minehunting vehicle can search for mines autonomously along a pre-programmed track, or can be controlled manually in real-time from the host ship by a single operator. All control and display functions will be integrated with the ship’s AN/SQQ-89 undersea warfare combat system, with mine contact data linked to the Aegis combat system.
By the end of 2002 it had been decided that the Remote Minehunting System [RMS] would not be installed on DDGs 97-102 as originally planned, in part because of the system's requirement for the host to remain in close proximity preventing freedom of maneuver and multimission tasking.
The U.S. Navy is a recognized leader in the development of hydrodynamic technologies for improved ship power and fuel savings. Stern flap and bulbous bow are two technologies that have demonstrated cost and fuel savings. The application of the stern flap to naval destroyers is a recent innovation. The stern flap originated from stern, or transom, wedge research conducted in the 1980s. Stern wedges or flaps have been installed on naval destroyers to create a vertical lift at the transom and to modify the distribution of pressure on the after portion of the hull. The Navy reports better fuel efficiency, higher top speed, and reduced emissions. The cost of implementation, $170,000, can be recouped within approximately one to two years. The Navy also found that refitting a bulbous bow on a DDG-51 Class Destroyer results in tremendous fuel savings from reduced ship resistance. Although the original funding for this project was $3.4 million, savings for 50 ships in the DDG-51 Class are estimated at $200 million. The bulbous bow concept has been well received, and as a result of the great potential for cost savings, bow designs for future ships are being reexamined. The success of the bulbous bow retrofit has resulted in the Navy aggressively pursuing spin-off technologies with the potential for similar fuel savings.
