U.S. Navy’s New Stealth Destroyer Delayed by Another Six Months

The first-of-class USS Zumwalt (DDG1000), a 16,000-ton next generation guided-missile destroyer, will not achieve full combat capability until April 2020, a U.S. Navy spokesperson confirmed to Bloomberg News in October.

“While combat system testing has made significant progress, Zumwalt continues to work through first-in-class integration and shipboard test challenges,” Colleen O’Rourke, a Navy spokeswoman, stated in an email.

The Navy still expects that the USS Zumwalt will have initial operational capability by September 2021, although it was supposed to achieve full combat capability in September of this year – five years later than originally planned.

The installation and activation work on the Zumwalt’s combat systems was overseen by U.S. defense contractor Raytheon.

The USS Zumwalt was commissioned in October 2016. Originally, the U.S. Navy envisioned a fleet of 32 Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyers. As a result of repeated cost overruns, the number was first cut down to 24, then to seven, and finally to three.

The Zumwalt’s sister ship, the USS Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001), was commissioned in January 2019, while the future USS Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG 1002), the third and final ship of the Zumwalt class, was christened in April of this year and will be commissioned in 2021.

In 2015, the U.S. Department of Defense considered abandoning construction of the last Zumwalt-class as a cost saving measure, but ultimately decided against it. All three destroyers were built by General Dynamics Bath Iron Works (BIW) shipyard in Maine.

Zumwalt-class destroyers, about 100 feet longer and 13 feet wider than the Arleigh Burke class of guided missile destroyers, feature distinct wave-piercing tumblehome hulls and a stealth design meant to reduce the ship’s radar cross-section.

The ships are powered by two Rolls-Royce main turbine generators and two Rolls-Royce auxiliary turbine generators with the capacity to reach top speeds of up to 33.5 knots (38.6 mph).

The Zumwalt-class is fitted 80 MK57 vertical launch tubes, each of which capable of carrying one to four SM-1, SM-2, and SM-6, or Tomahawk land-attack missiles.

Interestingly, in December 2017, the Navy decided to change the mission requirements for the new class of warships from land-strike missions to anti-ship warfare. The decision was influenced by the fact that the service lacked suitable ammunition for each destroyer’s two Advanced Gun Systems.

The Long Range Land Attack Projectile (LRLAP) round, is the is the only ammunition specifically designed to be fired by the USS Zumwalt’s two 155 millimeter/62-caliber Advanced Gun Systems (AGS), the main armament of the ship with an estimated range of up to 63 nautical miles (72 miles, 115 kilometers).

The Navy intended to procure 2,400 LRLAP rounds, at an estimated cost of $600,000 to $800,000 per round. The high price contributed to the decision to deliver USS Zumwalt with its two AGSs in an “inactive state,” according to the U.S. Navy.

“Following an evaluation of five other munition options, the Navy determined that no viable replacement, guided or unguided, was feasible,” the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in its annual survey of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) acquisitions, notes in May 2019. “As a result, the guns will remain inoperable on the ships for the foreseeable future.”

Another major criticism in the GAO report is that the U.S. Navy and BIW shipyard have not stabilized the Zumwalt-class’ design before construction kicked off more than a decade ago. “This approach contributed to numerous design changes after the fabrication start and significant cost increases and schedule delays,” the survey states.

“Nearly ten years later, development and shipboard testing of technologies continues, each of which could lead to discovery that could disrupt the design stability the Navy currently claims.”

An evaluation by the U.S. Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey found “over 320 serious deficiencies when the shipbuilder delivered DDG 1000’s HM&E in May 2016, and 246 serious deficiencies after the Navy conducted acceptance trials for DDG 1001 in January and February 2018,” according to the GAO. “This increases the likelihood that the ship will not be fully capable and sustainable when provided to the fleet.”

The report also criticizes the late switch from shore bombardment to ship attack missions. “The Navy has yet to establish testing plans to evaluate these future mission sets,” the GAO finds. “According to Navy officials, the Navy’s planned modifications to support the new mission will cost about $1 billion, from non-acquisition accounts.”

The first-of-class Zumwalt is still slated to achieve full combat capability by September 2021, three years later than initially scheduled. The ship has been undergoing sea trials and other intensive testing.

Overall program costs, including around $10 billion in research and development, currently stand at $23 billion, according to the Congressional Research Service. The current fiscal year alone is estimated to see a cost increase of $160 million.