DDG 51 Restart To Focus on Cost, Capitalize on Maturity

By AMY L. WITTMAN, Editor in Chief

The DDG 51 construction restart program is focusing on integrating improved radar for ballistic missile defense and new computing capabilities into the Arleigh Burke destroyer, the “greyhound of the fleet,” said Capt. Peter C. Lyle, program manager for the DDG 51 new construction effort under Rear Adm. William E. Landay, program executive officer, ships, at Naval Sea Systems Command.

The restart capitalizes on maturity of technology, design and production, as well as requirements stability and commitment.

Overall, there are 62 ships under contract with General Dynamics’ Bath Iron Works in Maine and Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Miss., with 57 delivered and five in various stages on construction, “two down south and three up north,” he said.

With the Navy’s decision to cancel CG(X), truncate the DDG 1000 program and restart DDG 51, “we’ve got a lot of great things going for us in this program.”

The baseline ship for this effort is DDG 112, Flight 2A, with a more powerful SPY radar and robust computing integrated on DDG 113, 114 and 115 for ballistic missile defense.

“We’re going to focus on cost, optimize it and beat down those folks who want to make it better. It’s a great warship, and the budget constraints are real. … We’re going to continue to use what’s gathered and garnered on [DDG] 1000 and other programs and bring those onboard,” Lyle said during a briefing at the Navy League's Sea-Air-Space Exposition May 3.

He also noted that both shipyards have made significant strides in infrastructure improvements to do as much construction indoors and out of the water, to be both faster and more efficient.

For example, Bath has its Land Level Transport Facility where the ship goes after pre-fit for construction before hitting the water. Northrop Grumman has its Ultra Hull Units, which centrally locate all shops and improve material handling.

Constrained budgets continue to challenge the Navy and the shipyards, so taking advantage of best practices between programs has been key, Lyle said.

His top two requirements for Flight 2A are more power, as in taking energy off the main production and putting it back into the grid for computing, and cooling. For Flight 3, two one-year studies will look at “technologies that make sense.”