The after-market payload module is necessary because the conventional prompt strike missiles are at least 30 inches in diameter, and the current cell VLS launcher on the DDG design, while larger than the standard Mark 41 VLS on the cruisers and destroyers, maxes out at missiles that are 28 inches in diameter.
With three ships, the Navy could conceivably keep one on patrol, one working up for patrol, and one in maintenance at all times. That means the Navy could maintain a semi-permanent Zumwalt presence in the region. Bryan McGrath, a retired destroyer skipper who runs the defense consultancy The FerryBridge Group, said the Navy needs to use the hulls to build a formidable conventional deterrent that is always on patrol in the South China Sea.
The destroyer Michael Monsoor. Navy photo courtesy of Bath Iron Works. The ship should also operate with its own medium-altitude, long-endurance aerial drones for surveillance and targeting, McGrath said. And this, to me, is the future of the DDG The tradeoff, according to Clark, will be that the ship used this way will not and cannot be used like the current class of workhorse Arleigh Burke destroyers.
If the Navy has a comprehensive idea of how it wants to use the platform, Clark said, Congress will likely appropriate the extra money for the ship alterations. With conventional prompt strike missiles, the Navy may just have found that argument. David B. Larter was the naval warfare reporter for Defense News.
By David B. As in the case of lead ships, the average cost per thousand tons of the first 10 FFG X s is substantially less than the cost of any comparable group of surface combatants the Navy has built since see Figure 1 , bottom panel.
Yet the LCSs benefit from the production efficiencies gained in building 12 previous Freedom variant ships, as well as the gains in efficiency that accrued as shipyard workers gained familiarity with that ship model. CBO has also found that the less the Navy estimated a ship would cost per thousand tons, the greater its percentage growth actually was. Second, little if any new technology is being developed for the FFG X. The sensors, weapons, propulsion equipment, and power and cooling systems of the FFG X are already used on other warships in the U.
Navy or in European navies, so firm data on their procurement costs are available. Development of the SPY-6 radar is nearly complete, and cost estimates for that radar have actually declined since the start of the Flight III program. Geurts stated in June. Third, Fincantieri is an experienced builder of small surface combatants.
Second, in the past the Navy has almost always underestimated the cost of the lead ship, and a more expensive lead ship generally results in higher costs for the follow-on ships. CBO calculated the weighted average by adding the initial costs for all ships in the data set and comparing that sum with the sum of all final costs for the ships in the data set. Unweighted average cost growth is 46 percent. Third, experience with the Arleigh Burke destroyer suggests cost growth is likely.
If some costs are higher than expected, the fixed-price terms of the contract potentially limit the extent to which the Navy may experience increased costs, absent any contract changes. Under the specific terms of the contract, the Navy and Fincantieri agreed on a target cost for the lead ship and the nine optional ships, with a ceiling price above the target price.
If costs rise above the target price but are below the ceiling price, the Navy and Fincantieri will share the additional costs under a contractually agreed formula called a share line. Similarly, if costs underrun the target price, the savings are also shared. That said, a fixed-price contract may not succeed in limiting costs to the government for three main reasons. Second, costs may rise on a fixed-price contract when the government makes major changes to the specifications of a shipbuilding program.
After buying several ships, the Navy reduced the number of ships it would buy to NASSCO stated that it earned little or no profit and might even have lost money on the first few ships because higher-than-expected commodity prices affected what it paid for materials and its schedule was disrupted by delays in receiving components from suppliers who were damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
In renegotiating the contract for the remaining ships, the Navy and NASSCO agreed to higher prices for the early ships and lower prices for later ships.
The net result was that NASSCO likely received more money for 11 ships under the renegotiated contract than it would have received for 12 ships under the original contract. By the same token, if the Navy wanted to make significant changes to the FFG X that were beyond the scope of the change orders allowed by the contract, it would negotiate the price of the revisions with Fincantieri. But after the contractor encountered unusual construction problems, the shipyard was damaged by Hurricane Michael in October However, the Coast Guard limited that relief to the first four OPCs and announced that the remaining ships of the contract would be subject to a new competition for their construction.
The combination of letters and numbers designates the type of ship and the first hull number of the class. For example, DD is a destroyer DD and its lead ship is number LAMPS is the acronym for light airborne multipurpose system, which was a sensor system carried by SH helicopters used in antisubmarine and antisurface ship warfare.
CBO uses the lightship displacement of ships expressed in long tons in its estimate of procurement costs and full-load displacement to estimate operation and support costs.
CBO estimated operation and support costs in three categories: direct costs, indirect costs, and overhead costs. Indirect costs include spending for support units and organizations that enable combat units to fight effectively.
Overhead costs refer to other spending that supports combat units, such as recruiting, training, acquisition offices, major maintenance, and medical care. See Mark V. A Macroscopic Examination of the Trends in U. Aegis is a highly sophisticated, centralized, and automated command-and-control and weapons control system that enables ships to conduct wide-area air surveillance and automatically detect, target, and engage numerous targets.
The system includes many components, the most important of which is a powerful multifunction phased-array radar. See David B. The VLS is a standardized missile launcher that can hold and fire many different Navy munitions. Cost differences between frigates and destroyers It is very difficult to pinpoint the unit prices of certain classes of ship, let alone types of ships.
However, here are some estimates of the most expensive vessels. In contrast, frigate ships are much more cost-efficient. Join Our Newsletter Get important industry news and analysis sent to your inbox — sign up to our e-Newsletter here. News Analysis Features Comment Projects. Join Our Newsletter - Get important industry news and analysis sent to your inbox — sign up to our e-Newsletter here.
Must Read. Astute vs Virginia: Which navy has the best nuclear attack submarine? Powered by. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website.
0コメント