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	Director, Operational Test & Evaluation
FY97 Annual Report

TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY COMBATANT (SC 21)

	Navy Pre-MDAP Program 18 systems Total program cost (TY$) $1700M Average unit cost (TY$) $850M Full-rate production 1QFY10 Prime Contractor Not Selected

SYSTEM DESCRIPTION & CONTRIBUTION TO JOINT VISION 2010

The Twenty-First Century Combatant (SC 21) is envisioned as a family of ships that will provide independent forward presence and operate as an integral part of joint and allied maritime expeditionary warfare operations. More specifically, the mission is to carry the war to the enemy through offensive operations: a) conduct precision engagement by being able to launch and support precision strike weapons and to provide firepower support for amphibious and other ground forces, and b) provide full- dimensional protection to friendly forces from enemy attack through the establishment and maintenance of battlespace dominance against theater missile, air, surface, and sub-surface threats.

The 21st Century surface combatant must have the flexibility to meet the multi-mission requirements while, at the same time, employing a nearly "puncture proof" self defense capability against all varieties of threats envisioned for a littoral environment. It is required to provide a defensive umbrella for strategic seaports, airports, and other essential logistics facilities in the littoral area of operations. It must be interoperable with other Naval expeditionary, interagency, joint, and allied forces under the C4I for the Warrior/Copernicus architecture. The 21st Century surface combatant is designed to contribute to open ocean surface, air, and sub-surface dominance since successful littoral operations depend upon control of the sea beyond the sea-land interface.

The first SC 21 variant, the DD 21, is tailored for land attack and maritime dominance and is the numerical replacement for retiring SPRUANCE (DD 963) Class destroyers and OLIVER HAZARD PERRY (FFG 7) Class frigates that will reach the end of their service life in the 2005 to 2007 time frame.

The SC 21 program is currently in the Pre-Major Defense Acquisition Program (MDAP) status. Milestone I is scheduled for early in FY98. The acquisition strategy for DD 21 requires that operational test planning evolve concurrently with the DD 21 ship/system design. Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E) of DD 21 will consist of a series of Early Operational Assessments (OT-IA {tentatively scheduled to occur in FY99}, OT-IB, OT-IC and OT-ID) to support a Milestone II decision, a series of Operational Assessments (OT-IIA and OT-IIB) and an Operational Evaluation (OT-IIC) (OPEVAL) to support Milestone III. Follow-on operational test and evaluation (FOT&E) (OT-III and OT-IV) will be conducted to verify correction of deficiencies and to complete deferred or incomplete OT&E. OT&E will be combined with or conducted concurrently with Developmental Testing (DT) as practical and appropriate.

The Navy's LFT&E program for DD-21 will use a combination of surrogate tests, component and system tests, a Shock Trial, a Total Ship Survivability Trial, and modeling and simulation to assess the vulnerability of DD-21 to threats likely to be encountered in combat.. The modeling and simulation effort will draw on the results of the various tests as well as previous combat incidents to assess the vulnerability of the DD-21 Class ship in damage scenarios reflecting realistic threat encounters. The Navy will develop a series of Vulnerability Assessment Reports (VARs) keyed to the various stages of ship design and construction to report the results of their LFT&E effort.

DOT&E has actively participated in the program's Pre-Milestone I WIPTs and TEMP development. Program maturity has limited test planning to identification of probable operational issues, test events and objectives to support an evaluation of the operational effectiveness and suitability of DD-21. The TEMP also mandates appropriate updates as down-selects occur and the program matures.

The T&E IPT for this program has been very effective and with DOT&E's early involvement, developed a Milestone I TEMP that provides a solid framework for early operational assessments and testing. DD-21's acquisition strategy and integrated test program schedule provide a good opportunity for "testing for learning" during the program definition and risk reduction phase. To facilitate this learning and support the preparation of a TEMP revision, DOT&E and OPTEVFOR will participate in the engineering reviews of various industry proposals and monitor progress of potentially related advanced technology demonstrations (ATDs).