Posted: April 15, 2015 11:31 AM

DDG 51 Restart Program On Track With Flight III Variant

By NICK ADDE, Special Correspondent

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — On track to fund the first Flight III variant of the DDG 51 (Arleigh Burke-class) destroyer in 2016, the Navy successfully reached a milestone in quiet fashion.

“We floated off the DDG 113 [John Finn] on March 28,” Cmdr. Seth Miller, the DDG 51 Restart Assistant Program Manager, told an audience during an April 15 presentation at the 2015 Sea-Air-Space Exposition.

“It was very uneventful and boring – just like we like it,” he said.

Miller described how the program has delivered 62 ships to the fleet to date, with another 14 under contract.

With Flight III, the Arleigh Burke class will deploy with significant upgrades and modernization to the structure and equipment to support them, Miller said.

“The big capability is with integrated air and missile defense,” he said. “Simply put, you can see an object half the size at twice the distance.”

The radar upgrades also allow for in-flight control of a greater number of missiles, and the tracks a system can have, as well. Plus, the radar’s open systems allow for configuration to scale and ability to adapt.

“You can add up small modules to get greater power as we move forward,” Miller said.

The ships also are getting bigger power generators, upgrades to combat systems software, upgraded cooling plants, and safer firefighting gear — all of which adds weight that would make them top-heavy.
None of the upgrades involve new technology. Rather, Miller said, they involve leveraging of existing designs, and modifying them accordingly to mission demands if necessary.

To compensate for the additional weight, the Flight III ships are being fitted with additional longitudinal girders in their inner bottom structures, down the length of each ship. The extra 90 long tons of steel will do more than bring down the center of gravity and increase stability.

“The added benefits are increased hull strength against underwater explosions. It also helps reduce the effects of corrosion,” Miller said.

Additionally, Flight III ships will be wider at the stern by 4 feet on each side, he said. The change should have minimal effect on the certification process, once Naval Air Systems Command comes in to make sure the flight decks are ready to launch and recover aircraft, Miller said.