Jura The idiot
General
On DDG-51:
again
Posted on InsideDefense.com: June 6, 2014
The Navy is looking at designing exit routes on its newest flight of Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers to allow easier modernization of the ship's key combat systems, according to the program manager.
The Navy now must cut through many layers of ship structure and distributed systems in order to remove combat systems when it comes time to modernize them, DDG-51 program manager Capt. Mark Vandroff told Inside the Navy in a June 5 interview at Naval Sea Systems Command headquarters.
"We know we have some areas where we wouldn't have to disrupt distributed systems, and we would either have to make a couple of simple hull cuts or a couple of bolted access plates that we could remove and therefore be able to swap out key components as they modernize," Vandroff said.
This plan would mean easier, less expensive modernization of these combat systems, he added.
The move is just one of the steps the Navy could take to increase the modularity of its destroyers in preparation for a future class of surface ship, Vandroff said.
The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV) has assembled a team to examine options for a future surface combatant, run by Rear Adm. Tom Rowden, the Navy's surface warfare director in the office of the chief of naval operations (N96). Vandroff was invited to share his shipbuilding expertise with the team, he said.
The analysis effort, though still in its requirement phase, is looking in particular at making surface ships more modular and reconfigurable, Vandroff said.
"How can you . . . make it so a ship is more affordable and more easily reconfigured so that a ship that spends 10 or 15 years doing mission X can pick up mission Y at a lower cost," he said. "Those are the kinds of questions that they are asking, but that should not imply that we have an answer yet."
Flight III and the new Zumwalt-class DDG-1000 destroyer program could inform that broader effort, Vandroff told ITN in a March interview.
Vandroff last week highlighted several capabilities the DDG-51 platform currently fields that the OPNAV effort may examine, including its enhanced air and missile defense radar (AMDR), which is planned to replace the existing SPY-1D radar.
"The question for Flight III they asked was, 'how do we get AMDR and the capability that it brings to the ballistic missile defense threat, how do we get that to sea as quickly and cheaply as possible?'" Vandroff said.
He also pointed to the ship's survivability and record of maintaining affordability as characteristics the Navy would want to carry forward perhaps to a new class of ships.
In terms of existing modular systems aboard DDG-51, Vandroff noted the modular missile launcher on the Aegis combat system, which is fielded by destroyers and guided-missile cruisers. The vertical launch system (VLS) on the vessel can shoot a variety of missiles and can be adapted to field new missile capabilities, Vandroff said.
Vandroff compared VLS to an aircraft carrier, which can support a variety of aircraft capabilities.
"When I invent a new aircraft, I don't have to re-invent the aircraft carrier," Vandroff said. "Now, every time you invent a new missile, you say OK if it fits inside the vertical launch system, we can adapt and we can field a new missile capability . . . Before the advent of VLS, a new missile meant a new missile launcher."
The Navy plans to procure the Flight III variant beginning in fiscal year 2016. The CNO signed the capabilities development document for the program within the last month, Vandroff said.
ITN learned of the future surface combatant effort from Navy officials speaking at the American Society of Naval Engineers' ASNE Day 2014 in Arlington, VA, in February.
After the Surface Navy Association symposium in January 2013, the service began a 90-day wargame effort to define modularity, scalability and flexibility for the future service combatant. The service then commissioned a study of the future surface combatant, executed from August to December 2013.
The next step is a capabilities-based assessment on the new platform to set the ship up for the start of the acquisition process.
again
Posted on InsideDefense.com: June 6, 2014
The Navy is looking at designing exit routes on its newest flight of Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers to allow easier modernization of the ship's key combat systems, according to the program manager.
The Navy now must cut through many layers of ship structure and distributed systems in order to remove combat systems when it comes time to modernize them, DDG-51 program manager Capt. Mark Vandroff told Inside the Navy in a June 5 interview at Naval Sea Systems Command headquarters.
"We know we have some areas where we wouldn't have to disrupt distributed systems, and we would either have to make a couple of simple hull cuts or a couple of bolted access plates that we could remove and therefore be able to swap out key components as they modernize," Vandroff said.
This plan would mean easier, less expensive modernization of these combat systems, he added.
The move is just one of the steps the Navy could take to increase the modularity of its destroyers in preparation for a future class of surface ship, Vandroff said.
The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV) has assembled a team to examine options for a future surface combatant, run by Rear Adm. Tom Rowden, the Navy's surface warfare director in the office of the chief of naval operations (N96). Vandroff was invited to share his shipbuilding expertise with the team, he said.
The analysis effort, though still in its requirement phase, is looking in particular at making surface ships more modular and reconfigurable, Vandroff said.
"How can you . . . make it so a ship is more affordable and more easily reconfigured so that a ship that spends 10 or 15 years doing mission X can pick up mission Y at a lower cost," he said. "Those are the kinds of questions that they are asking, but that should not imply that we have an answer yet."
Flight III and the new Zumwalt-class DDG-1000 destroyer program could inform that broader effort, Vandroff told ITN in a March interview.
Vandroff last week highlighted several capabilities the DDG-51 platform currently fields that the OPNAV effort may examine, including its enhanced air and missile defense radar (AMDR), which is planned to replace the existing SPY-1D radar.
"The question for Flight III they asked was, 'how do we get AMDR and the capability that it brings to the ballistic missile defense threat, how do we get that to sea as quickly and cheaply as possible?'" Vandroff said.
He also pointed to the ship's survivability and record of maintaining affordability as characteristics the Navy would want to carry forward perhaps to a new class of ships.
In terms of existing modular systems aboard DDG-51, Vandroff noted the modular missile launcher on the Aegis combat system, which is fielded by destroyers and guided-missile cruisers. The vertical launch system (VLS) on the vessel can shoot a variety of missiles and can be adapted to field new missile capabilities, Vandroff said.
Vandroff compared VLS to an aircraft carrier, which can support a variety of aircraft capabilities.
"When I invent a new aircraft, I don't have to re-invent the aircraft carrier," Vandroff said. "Now, every time you invent a new missile, you say OK if it fits inside the vertical launch system, we can adapt and we can field a new missile capability . . . Before the advent of VLS, a new missile meant a new missile launcher."
The Navy plans to procure the Flight III variant beginning in fiscal year 2016. The CNO signed the capabilities development document for the program within the last month, Vandroff said.
ITN learned of the future surface combatant effort from Navy officials speaking at the American Society of Naval Engineers' ASNE Day 2014 in Arlington, VA, in February.
After the Surface Navy Association symposium in January 2013, the service began a 90-day wargame effort to define modularity, scalability and flexibility for the future service combatant. The service then commissioned a study of the future surface combatant, executed from August to December 2013.
The next step is a capabilities-based assessment on the new platform to set the ship up for the start of the acquisition process.
