Zumwalt: Testbed or more?

Is the DDG-1000 Zumwalt-class destroyer a science project testbed or a technologically advanced destroyer needed by the fleet? That's the issue raised in a story in Aviation Week, which points out that the answer depends on who is asked. The ship being built by General Dynamics Bath Iron Works in Maine is using a lot of new technologies, including a hybrid drive, composite deckhouse and new guns, and construction is running ahead of schedule. (Source: Aviation Week, 12/28/11) Gulf Coast note: Ingalls Shipbuilding's Composites Center of Excellence in Gulfport, Miss., is building the Zumwalt's integrated composite deckhouse, helicopter hangars and parts of the ship's peripheral vertical launch systems.