CG(X) - DD(X) / DDG-1000 Derivation
The backbone of the 21st century fleet will be the next-generation of surface combatants: the Littoral Combat Ship, LCS, the advanced multi-mission destroyer, DD(X), and the advanced cruiser, CG(X). Together with modernized cruisers and guided missile destroyers, these combatants will comprise the Surface Combatant Family of Ships (SCFOS).
The CG(X) would be a large, multimission surface combatant and use the same hull form [either a common or scalable hull], propulsion plant, and basic combat systems as the DD(X), but it might be larger and more expensive than the DD(X). As a descendant of the DD(X) program, CG(X) will share with DD(X) a common propulsion architecture and a stealthier hull form. This hull form will contain an integrated all-electric power system that is more efficient and survivable than today's propulsion systems, and provides more power capacity for future weapons. CG(X) will also use many of the same transformational technologies used in DD(X) to reduce crew size and operating and support costs.
The CG(X) would be derivative of the DD(X) design, but with a more powerful radar than the DD(X), as well as additional missile tubes in the place of the DD(X)'s AGSs. The CG(X) might be somewhat larger than the DD(X), and would have a procurement cost equal to or greater than that of the DD(X). The DD(X) would have a full-load displacement of about 14,500 tons, compared to about 9,000 tons for current Navy cruisers and destroyers.
DD(X) will be the technology engine for future ships such as CVN 21, LHA(R), and the advanced cruiser, CG(X).CG(X) and DD(X) will share many automated features, which presently are performed manually. The result will be a smaller crew for the CG(X). As with the DD(X), the crew's focus will be on fighting versus ship maintenance. CG(X) will project an umbrella of air and missile defense, protecting carrier and expeditionary strike groups, ground forces, and land-based air forces. It would carry the proposed Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI) ballistic missile defense boost-phase interceptor.
When the Navy conceived this family of ships, a CG(X) had to be behind DD(X). The Navy knew it has to because missile defense is in the future. Advanced missile defense systems are going to come. As they do so, there was not sufficient power in the legacy platform to deal with the advanced systems that the Navy was going to have to create in the future, and that were going to potentially be available.
The CG(X) will fall on the heels of DD(X) and there is every expectation that there will be commonalities in hull forms or scalable hull. Larger, faster and longer-range missiles will allow CG-X to counter state-of-the-art air threats hundreds of miles over operating areas ashore and to perform other missions well in the littoral. Equipped with a new generation of air defense radars under development to counter low-radar cross section threats at extended ranges, CG-X will detect, track and engage ballistic missiles outside of the atmosphere.
One account suggested that the CG(X) will have an even stealthier hull form than the hull form found on the larger DD(X) destroyer. This advanced hull form helps to reduce radar identification by other ships. But at an April 5, 2006, hearing, Rear Admiral Charles Hamilton II,, the Navy admiral in charge of shipbuilding programs, testified that "... we're operating under the belief that the hull will fundamentally be - the hull mechanical and electrical piece of CG(X) will be the same, identical as DD(X). So the infrastructure that supports radar and communications gear into the integrated deckhouse would be the same fundamental structure and layout. I believe to accommodate the kinds of technologies CG(X) is thinking about arraying, you'd probably get 60 to 70 percent of the DD(X) hull and integrated (inaudible) common between DD(X) and CG(X), with the variation being in that last 35 percent for weapons ..."
Like the DD(X) destroyer, the CG(X) cruiser will have an all-electric Integrated Power System (IPS) that is more efficient and survivable than the propulsion systems found on today's ships. The IPS can provide power to the entire ship. The benefits of IPS are many: reduced costs of ownership, reduced construction costs, a power source for future energy -type weapons, improved survivability, and greater architectural flexibility.
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