Zumwalt-class guided-missile destroyer USS Michael Monsoor (DDG-1001) leads a formation including the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62), USS Spruance (DDG-111), USS Pinckney (DDG-91) and USS Kidd (DDG-100), and the Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Coronado (LCS-4) during U.S. Pacific Fleet’s Unmanned Systems Integrated Battle Problem (UxS IBP) on April 21, 2021. US Navy Photo
The Navy has stood up an office to craft the next major surface...
USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG-108) transits through the East China Sea on Nov. 15, 2019. US Navy Photo
The Navy is seeking nearly $110 million to help research and develop its next-generation destroyer and submarine programs, according to service budget documents.
The Fiscal Year 2022 submission asks for approximately $29.8 million to develop SSN(X) and about $79.7 million for concept development of the DDG(X) – which will succeed the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.
According to the Navy’s research and...
The following is the Feb. 11, 2021 Congressional Research Service In Focus report, Navy DDG(X) Future Large Surface Combatant Program: Background and Issues for Congress
From the report
Introduction
The Navy’s DDG(X) program, also known as the Future Large Surface Combatant program or DDG Next program, envisages procuring a class of next-generation guided-missile destroyers (DDGs) to replace the Navy’s aging Ticonderoga (CG-47) class Aegis cruisers. The Navy wants to procure the first DDG(X)...
The following is the Jan. 12, 2021 Congressional Research Service In Focus report, Navy Future Large Surface Combatant (LSC) (DDG Next)
Program: Background and Issues for Congress
From the report
The Navy’s Future Large Surface Combatant (LSC) program, also known as the DDG Next program, envisages procuring a class of next-generation guided-missile destroyers (DDGs) to replace the Navy’s aging Ticonderoga (CG-47) class Aegis cruisers. The Navy wants to procure the first Future LSC around FY2028,...
https://news.usni.org/2021/01/14/overview-of-future-large-surface-combatant-ddg-next-program
The new Naval Support Facility in Redzikowo, Poland, will be home to the Aegis Ashore Ballistic Missile Defense System(AABMDS) mission. Photo represents construction progress as of August 2019. US Navy Photo
The chief of naval operation’s new call to focus on sea control and power projection could lead the service to shed other non-core missions the Navy conducts today, such as manning Aegis Ashore missile defense sites.
The biggest problem is, no one else has agreed to take over that mission yet.
Sailors man the rails aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) in 2019 as the ship pulls into Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. US Navy Photo
The Navy is taking steps to integrate its Zumwalt-class destroyers and its unmanned surface vessels into operational plans and will likely include both in a major Integrated Battle Problem exercise this spring.
Both sets of ships currently fall under the control of the Surface Development Squadron-1, which is responsible for overseeing USV...
Information Specialist 1st Class Matthew Stephenson mans the lines as the Freedom-variant littoral combat ship USS Sioux City (LCS-11) gets underway on Aug. 30, 2020. US Navy Photo
The Navy in the next few weeks will release a further refinement of how to operate and maintain the Littoral Combat Ships that today make up the small surface combatant fleet.
In parallel, though, the service is working hard to take lessons learned from years of struggles with the LCS and ensure the upcoming frigate...
USS Barry (DDG-52) transits at sunset during operations in the Pacific on Oct. 5, 2020. US Navy Photo
The Navy’s next warship needs more missiles than the current crop of Arleigh Burke guided-missile destroyers but must be smaller and cheaper than the trio of Zumwalt-class DDGs, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday said on Tuesday.
Tentatively dubbed “DDG Next” by Gilday, the new class of large surface combatants would start with the existing systems in use on current ships or in...
A Ghost Fleet Overlord test vessel takes part in a capstone demonstration during the conclusion of Phase I of the program in September. Two existing commercial fast supply vessels were converted into unmanned surface vessels (USVs) for Overlord testing, which will play a vital role in informing the Navy’s new classes of USVs. US Navy photo.
Several Navy program officials and resource sponsors today outlined how they’ll spend the next couple years giving Congress enough confidence in unmanned...
https://news.usni.org/2020/09/08/navy-pushing-to-maintain-2023-usv-program-of-record-timeline
USS Stockdale (DDG-106) transits the Gulf of Oman on Jan. 5, 2019. US Navy Photo
The Navy’s latest effort to define its next large surface combatant is underway, with the director of surface warfare (OPNAV N96) saying the top-level requirements for the ship class are due to the chief of naval operations by the end of the year.
Rear Adm. Paul Schlise said today that “we’ll take the initial top-level requirements for our next surface combatant – you might have heard it called the Large Surface...