According to the U.S. Military Watch magazine reported on January 17, 2022, the U.S. Navy has announced the details of the possible configuration of the next-generation destroyer, which is currently being developed under the DDG(X) program to replace the Production Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.
【Chinese Navy Type 055 Destroyer】
Although they began service dating back to the Cold War, the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers remain the most capable destroyers at sea in the United States or the West. Due to delays in the development of alternatives, the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are expected to continue production beyond 2027. The Arleigh Burke-class destroyers had a significant impact on the design of foreign destroyers, most notably the Atago and Maya-class destroyers of Japan, and the larger Sejong-class destroyers of South Korea. Future destroyers are expected to replace the older Arleigh Burke-class destroyers in active service, and may also replace heavier Ticonderoga-class cruisers.
【U.S. Navy Zumwalt-class destroyer】
The article points out that the service life of the Arleigh Burke class limits its ability to continue to receive upgrades and enhancements, especially new weapons such as hypersonic missiles and directed energy weapons, as well as new sensors, and that the ship's basic design is flawed in terms of space, weight and power. With more ambitious designs such as the Zumwalt-class destroyers and the Liberty-class and Independence-class Coastal Combat Ships (LCS) considered to have failed, an alternative to the Allie Burke-class destroyers is expected to be a more conservative design that builds on its predecessor but has more room for modernization. Additional sensor capabilities, long-range weapons and directional energy armed carrying capacity, as well as increased survivability and output power, are expected to be central influencers in the design of new warships. The acoustic, infrared and underwater electromagnetic signal characteristics of the DDG(X) are expected to improve by about 50 percent, bringing it closer to China's Type 055 destroyer, but far less stealthy than expected for the Zumwalt-class destroyers and coastal combat ships.
China's Type 055 destroyer is currently widely considered to be the world's most advanced surface warship, and the performance of the U.S. Navy's new destroyer has the potential to restore U.S. leadership in the field.
[U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyers]
Other new features of the future battleship reportedly include the integration of two 600kW class lasers to replace the RAM point defense system for defending cruise missiles, and a 150kW class frontal laser. The power required for these lasers is expected to be provided by a new propulsion system based on a gas turbine developed for the Zumwalt-class destroyers that can output 78 megawatts of power. The ship's offensive firepower remains uncertain, and although the latest Arleigh Burke III destroyers carry 96 vertical launch units for launching cruise and anti-aircraft missiles, conflicting reports suggest that the new ship could carry the same number or fewer vertical units. This suggests that the warships are not intended to bridge the firepower gap with the Chinese Type 055 destroyers deploying 112 vertical-firing units. The Arleigh Burke-class destroyers use the Mk 41 vertical launch system, and due to the lack of a sufficiently compact hypersonic weapon to fit into these vertical launch units, there are reports that the new battleship may integrate larger vertical launch units for these weapons.
This will stand in stark contrast to the Russian Navy, which is currently the only country to integrate hypersonic missiles into its surface combat ships and has not changed the original dimensions of its vertical launch units. However, the use of larger vertical launch units on U.S. warships could allow them to deploy long-range missiles in the future, albeit in small numbers, is significant.
Author: Ningpu
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