Navy preps for 10 Flight III DDGs

WASHINGTON - The Navy is readying itself to request 10 more guided missile destroyers in 2018 all with the new Flight III variant that integrates Raytheon’s new AN/SPY-6 air and missile defense radar. Congress is thinking hard about giving the go-ahead for that buy. Navy-think claims it saves 10 percent over the life of the contract, and thus given the sea-service a free ship. There’s been a great deal of debate from shipbuilders, especially Bath (Maine) Iron Works and detractors in Congress over Navy’s design progress, and the risk of a multi-year contract for this design overhaul. Both Huntington Ingalls Industries and BIW have signed on to build Flight III DDGs. The first (DDG 125) will be built at HII-Pascagoula, Miss. The ships are being built for the AN/SPY-6 radar. Putting that system into a nearly 45 percent class redesign required integrating a new electrical power system. Navy says it’s done everything it can to reduce uncertainty through detailed 3-D modeling. As it currently stands, HII’s Flight III DDG 125 will be the first to deliver in 2023. Both ships were changes to already contracted ships. DDG 127’s timeline will likely be pushed back; and will include a Flight IIA radar. The House has passed its defense bill, but the Senate is yet to weigh in, except for Mississippi Republican and Appropriations Committee Chairman Sen. Thad Cochran’s markup, which proposes 10 ships in line with President Trump’s budget request – five fewer than authorized under the FY-18 defense authorization act, which passed in December. All of this, however, is in flux because nobody actually knows how much money is going to be allotted for defense. The current deal means the government has until Jan. 19 to strike a deal on the budget or another continuing resolution. (Source: Defense News 01/04/18)