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Navy: Constellation Frigate, DDG(X) Programs Mark Start of ‘Surface Ship Renaissance’
Rendering of USS Constellation (FFG-62). Fincantieri Image
The Navy already has models of the Constellation-class frigate and the upcoming DDG(X) destroyer in the water at Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock in Maryland and is using a new set of engineering best practices to guide the development of both programs, several Navy officials explained last week.
The Fiscal Year 2020 defense bill ordered the Navy to create a senior technical authority for every ship class, who would be responsible for overseeing a ship design process that would better understand critical systems early in the new ship’s development and create a plan to reduce risk through significant testing and modeling work, Carey Filling, the director of the Surface Ship Design and Systems Engineering directorate at Naval Sea Systems Command, and the senior tech authority for DDG(X) and the frigate, said last week
Home » Aviation » Navy Taking Hard Look at Sustainment Costs, As New Projection Doubles Expected Long-Term Bill
Navy Taking Hard Look at Sustainment Costs, As New Projection Doubles Expected Long-Term Bill
January 28, 2021 12:48 PM
Hull Technician 2nd Class Ronald Bell, from Bronx, N.Y., left, and Hull Technician 3rd Class Shaughnessy O’Day, from Columbus, Ind., weld a light fixture aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen (DDG-82) during a sustainment exercise in 2019. US Navy Photo
The Navy has long struggled to understand its sustainment costs and how they affect budget plans in the near- and long-term, but an intensive effort is underway to get a better grasp on where those costs are in the budget, who is responsible for paying them and how they affect future plans to grow the fleet.
USNI News
Top Stories 2020: International Naval Acquisition
December 24, 2020 11:30 AM
HMS Queen Elizabeth R08 arriving back in Portsmouth July 2, 2020 after a period at sea conducting Operational Sea Training. UK Royal Navy Photo
This post is part of a series of stories looking back at the top naval news from 2020.
China, Russia and the U.S. all announced sweeping expansions of their naval capacity in 2020 as the three largest world fleets vie for high seas influence in a declared era of great power competition. The new tone for naval forces is helping U.S. allies achieve more lethal navies and expanded capabilities.
Always in the details.
First, let’s dive into Mark Esper’s remarks at Rand Corporation on the future of the Navy fleet.
Here’s Esper’s central argument:
Excerpt:
Ship numbers are important, but they don’t tell the whole story.
They do not address the types of ships and the capabilities of the vessels being counted; the skill of the crews that operate them; the prowess of the officers that lead them; or the ways in which we fight and sustain them…just to name a few.
Nonetheless, we must stay ahead; we must retain our overmatch; and we will keep building modern ships to ensure we remain the world’s greatest Navy.