(Continued from the previous part)
Judging from the design drawings released so far, the new hull design of DDG(X) is more conventional and conservative, and quite European style, and the previous hull design style of the US Navy is very different, and it does not use the "wave-piercing reverse ship" hull design like the "Zumwalt" class destroyer. The hull still uses the "long head" type and flying scissor bow commonly used by conventional large surface ships, but a large number of radar stealth designs are introduced. Its hull adopts conventional outdivation and superstructure inclination design, the hull polyline is located in about 2/3 above the dryboard, the foredeck anchor chain operation area has also changed the open design of the "Burke" class to a fully enclosed design, and in order to solve the problem of the bow on the wave, a reverse polyline design is adopted, that is, to ensure that stealth requirements can also adapt to the seaworthiness needs of high sea conditions, this design is also the mainstream of the new generation of ships in European countries. It can be seen that the hull design of this type of ship does not have many novelties, only the linear design of the bow and the "Zumwalt" class destroyer are more slender and sharp, which can provide better fluid effects and improve speed. The platform is expected to reduce its acoustic, infrared and underwater electromagnetic characteristics by at least 50%.
The exaggerated "wave-piercing reverse ship" hull of the Zumwalt-class destroyers
The "Baseline" version of the powertrain has been completed on the Zumwalt-class destroyer "Integrated Electric Propulsion" (IEP), using two MT-30 main gas turbine generator sets / 72MW (96553 hp), two 4500 auxiliary gas turbine generator sets / 8MW (10728 hp), two permanent magnet propulsion motors (total 78MW, About 104557 axial horsepower) combination as the main force, "Zumwalt" class destroyer although the overall development failed, but some of the subsystems are still quite successful, this power system has a fairly high level of technology, its quietness and economy in the world's highest level, and through the "Zumwalt" class destroyers, has been quite mature. With this powertrain, the DDG(X) will have at least 50 percent more range than the Burke-class destroyers, increase self-sustaining power by 120 percent, and reduce fuel consumption by about 25 percent.
The power system of the Zumwalt-class destroyers was mature and successful
At the same time, the powertrain will provide sufficient energy guarantee for the deployment of additional sensors, weapons and high-energy laser systems for DDG(X). DDG(X) is expected to first use the 14-foot AN/SPY-6(V)1 phased array radar, which is also the radar currently used in the Burke Block III, with 37 standard modules (RMA), and the later "future" version will continue to expand to an 18-foot radar antenna, which will have 57 standard modules, so higher power guarantees are required.
Schematic of the RMA module
THE AN/SPY-6 radar is an S-band combined modular phased array radar that can be combined with a variety of radar models of different sizes, functions and carriers by increasing or subtracting the number of standard module RMAs. The idea of developing this radar by The American Thunder Company is to try to monopolize the radar orders from multi-sided fixed shipborne phased array radar, single-sided rotary shipborne phased array radar, and land-based fixed long-range phased array radar to all areas of airborne early warning radar, so its modular combination capability is highlighted. However, although its performance has been greatly improved compared with the early SPY-1D radar, it does not have much advantage over the performance of the most advanced phased array radar in the world, but the "Aegis" baseline 10 version of the combat system equipped with the radar is quite advanced, and the performance of the radar can be fully utilized.
SPY6 and Baseline 10 system operational schematics
The radar array arrangement of the DDG(X) is very different from that of the Burke class. Instead of arranging all four fronts around the front bridge, two front-facing fronts were arranged at a 45-degree angle on the bridge, and two rear-facing fronts were arranged above the stern hangar. This layout is the same as the small phased array radar layout of the Japanese "Akizuki" class universal destroyer. In fact, this layout method first appeared in the early concept design scheme of the Burke-class destroyers, and the advantage was that the radar array could obtain the best view and would not be obscured by the superstructure of the ship. The disadvantage is that the superstructure of the ship is tall and large, which makes the center of gravity of the ship too high, which has a greater impact on the stability of the ship under high sea conditions and the radar reflection area of the ship. Therefore, after balancing the pros and cons, the "Burke" class finally arranged the front around the bridge, and for the occlusion of the backward field of view, the later "Burke" class adopted the method of locally increasing the installation position of the radar array to solve it, and this radar layout method also became the mainstream way of the phased array radar layout of later countries. However, due to the large increase in the tonnage of DDG(X), which can solve some stability problems, it is possible to re-adopt the front and rear layout, which is the best way to see the field.
Autumn Moon-class radar arrangement
In addition to the main radar, the DDG(X) is also equipped with spQ-9B single-sided phased array rotary low-altitude/surface search radar for low-altitude blindness repair and short-range anti-missile operations. What is more surprising is that although the ship as a whole has been designed for a large number of "integrated radio frequency systems", including electronic warfare systems integrated on the superstructure, its radar for anti-aircraft missile guidance illumination is still three ancient AN/SPS-62 type irradiation radars. These 3 radars are slightly retro parabolic antennas, 1 is installed above the front bridge, and the other 2 are installed above the tail helicopter hangar, which is out of place compared with the ship's overall conformal and invisible design style! The reason for continuing to use this radar, rather than making the target illumination function into an X-band phased array radar integrated into the integrated mast, is mainly to consider the ship's anti-ballistic missile needs, if necessary, it needs to be able to provide guidance capabilities for the vertical direction of the zenith for anti-aircraft missiles, and the traditional rotary antenna can provide a larger elevation angle, and has higher flexibility and guidance accuracy at the vertical angle of the zenith than the fixed array.
SPS-62 radar on the Burke class
The DDG(X) "baseline" version of the weapon system is not much new, the MK41 universal missile vertical launch system, the MK45 127 mm main gun, and the two sets of 21 combined Ram short-range missile launch systems on both sides of the helicopter hangar are all very common equipment. The vertical launch system has a total of 96 launch units, the same as the Burke class, and is arranged in the way of 32 units in the front and 64 units in the middle. Since the top of the hangar is occupied by rear phased array radar, the vertical launch system in the rear is moved forward to the middle of the hull.
Standard MK41 transmitter unit
In subsequent "future" releases, the current weapon configuration will be replaced with a newer weapon system. Among them, the front 32-unit MK41 launcher will be replaced by the large launcher of the future hypersonic weapon system of the 12th unit, a 150KW laser short-range anti-missile weapon system will be added to the front of the bridge, and the two "Ram" weapon systems in the tail will also be replaced by two sets of 600KW laser short-range anti-missile systems, so as to achieve the design goal of the ship's all-laser high-energy weapon anti-missile. At the same time, in order to make up for the reduction in the amount of bombs caused by the replacement of hypersonic missile launchers, the number of central launch units may be appropriately increased. To power these new systems, the ship will also upgrade the power of the Integrated Power System (IPS).
U.S. Navy high-energy laser weapon test
Finally, although the U.S. Navy positioned the DDG(X) as a ship to perform traditional maritime offensive and defensive operations, it did not completely abandon the concept of "multi-task module" that has been adhered to since the LCS, and the initial design of the ship retained the option of inserting two independent multi-task module modules, but the U.S. Navy did not make further details on the specific functions and uses of such modules, and how to achieve rapid insertion and mission conversion.
DDG(X) future development outlook
According to the schedule released by the U.S. Navy this time, the "baseline" version of the DDG(X) first ship, as soon as 6 years later, in 2028, is expected to build the hull itself (excluding weapons and electronic systems) construction price will be 1 billion US dollars / ship, and the price of the whole ship has not been announced, referring to the "Burke" Block III type about 2.7 billion, the unit price is expected to be between 3.5 billion US dollars and 4 billion US dollars, compared with the "Zumwalt" class destroyer 7.5 billion US dollars unit price is much lower. Although the U.S. Navy does not provide a planned timetable for the first ship to enter service, according to the speed at which the U.S. Navy has built new ships in the past, it should be able to join the U.S. Navy as soon as 2032-2035.
Burke Type 3 construction drawing
Judging from the preliminary design plan of this type of ship, DDG (X) reveals everywhere that the US Navy has returned to the "pragmatic" thinking change after nearly 20 years of equipment development direction deviation, and it no longer blindly pursues "high technology", uses existing technology, strives to achieve rapid research and development, and then gradually improves in the later stage, which also reflects the huge pressure and eagerness of the US Navy in re-facing the "great power competition" situation.
The "baseline" version of the DDG(X), in fact, can be seen as a new hull, carrying the "Burke" Block III destroyer full combat system and weapons equipment of the first type of ship, compared with the "Burke" Block III type is not essentially a very large performance improvement. The current estimated start of construction of the last order for the Burke Block III is 2027, so for some time from 2028 onwards, the DDG(X) and Burke Block III destroyers will be built at the same time.
U.S. hypersonic missile weapons are seriously lagging behind, and all plans are still in their infancy
At present, it seems that this type of destroyer, which is already very "pragmatic", is very likely to successfully complete the construction and join the US Navy. But even so, the ship will take 6 years to carry out detailed design work. During this period, the U.S. Navy will face competitors catching up or even surpassing in terms of quantity and quality, so it is likely that when the "baseline" version of DDG(X) begins to be built, it will once again be in a backward situation in performance, falling into the embarrassing situation of "just starting to be outdated".
For the "future" version that integrates a large number of new technologies, the laser high-energy weapon system and hypersonic weapon system expected to be used are in the early stages of research and development for the United States, and there is still a long way to go before it is finally practical, with high technical risks. At the same time, under the ever-changing situation, the US military industrial group will once again sacrifice various "threat arguments" to demand funds for the so-called high-tech "gimmicks" that are constantly innovating, and the result is likely to continue to increase the price and technical risks of the "future" version, thus gradually evolving into the second flashy and expensive "Zumwalt" level. Judging from the progress of a series of ship development projects in the early stage of the US Navy, the prospects for the "future" version are not optimistic!