May 09, 2012 13:36 UTC
Latest updates: Article improvements look at different operating scenarios.
USS Kidd [DDG-100]
The US Navy’s DDG-51 Arleigh Burke Class destroyers are the backbone of their present and future fleet. Unfortunately, they have a problem. Two problems, actually.
One problem involves keeping the fleet’s operating costs low, especially fuel use. These ships aren’t as efficient as more modern designs, especially at the low cruising speeds that make up so much of a ship’s operating life. The other problem is that DDG-51 destroyers are having trouble generating enough power, especially if they want to receive new radars like the proposed AMDR. Since this destroyer class includes the majority of American ballistic missile-defense ships, their ability to remain relevant, and to field an upgraded “Flight III” variant, is critical to maintaining US sea power.
A Northrop Grumman team, which includes Curtiss-Wright and L-3, believes that they may have the answer to both problems. Nor are they the only firm looking into this.
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May 09, 2012 11:04 UTC
Latest updates: Re-named USNS Guam and USNS Puerto Rico – are they also deployment hints?
Hawaii Superferry
In his April 6/09 discussion of the FY 2010 budget, Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates said that the US military wanted to charter another 2 “JHSV-like” fast catamaran ships from 2009-2011, until the JHSV ships begin arriving. That meant JHSV-winner Austal would find its products competing once more with Incat, which has had 4 of its wave-piercing catamarans chartered by various American services. Their Swift wave-piercing catamaran is currently chartered by the Navy as HSV-2, just as the Austal-built Westpac Express is chartered by US Military Sealift Command for the Marines.
One obvious stopgap option is the Hawaiian Superferry catamarans, a larger pair of Austal-built ships that resemble the Westpac Express. They were even pressed into service when Haiti’s disaster struck, and now the US Navy has bought them outright.
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