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The US Navy’s Nuclear Propulsion Contracts
18-Nov-2009 15:33 EST |
Related Stories: Americas - USA, Contracts - Awards, Contracts - Modifications, Engines & Propulsion - Naval, FOCUS Articles, Fuel & Power, Other Corporation, R&D - Contracted, Submarines, Surface Ships - Combat
Basic Nuclear Propulsion
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Several navies around the world currently use nuclear propulsion in at least some ships and submarines. The USA has had an all-nuclear submarine fleet for over 50 years, a policy that dates back to Adm. Hyman Rickover. Britain’s sale of its SSK Upholder Class to Canada (as the problem-plagued Victoria Class) has made them an all-nuclear submarine fleet as well. China, France and Russia all use naval nuclear propulsion within mixed submarine fleets, India is currently working to join this club via its SSN program, and Brazil is about to launch a program of its own. On the surface, America’s aircraft carriers became an all-nuclear fleet with the retirement of the USS Kitty Hawk [CV 63], and FY 2008-09 spending legislation has been is pushing the US Navy to use nuclear power in its future CG (X) cruisers and new amphibious ship classes. These surface ships are joined by France’s problem-plagued aircraft carrier FS Charles de Gaulle, and Russia’s Kirov Class cruisers.
The saga of the Charles de Gaulle serves as a reminder that adapting nuclear propulsion technology to the small spaces of a submarine, or fitting them to a surface warship, is no trivial feat. Much can go wrong, even in nations that have considerable naval nuclear propulsion experience. On the flip side, advances in design can offer significant benefits. The new nuclear plants in America’s Virginia Class and Seawolf Class fast attack subs, Britain’s new Astute Class fast attack submarines, and the USA’s forthcoming CVN-78 Gerald R. Ford Class aircraft carriers, offer designs that will save billions over the life of each ship by eliminating the standard mid-life reactor refueling.
This Spotlight article currently covers related American nuclear propulsion industrial base contracts since the beginning of FY 2006. The latest includes a $248.8 million contract to Bechtel for naval nuclear propulsion components…
Continue reading…
Dead Aim, Or Dead End? The USA’s DDG-1000 Zumwalt Class Program
15-Nov-2009 15:31 EST |
Related Stories: Americas - USA, BAE, Boeing, Budgets, Coastal & Littoral, Contracts - Awards, Design Innovations, Electronics - General, FOCUS Articles, General Dynamics, Issues - Political, Lobbying, Lockheed Martin, New Systems Tech, Surface Ships - Combat, T&C - IBM, Transformation
67% of the fleet
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The prime missions of the new DDG-1000 Zumwalt Class destroyer are to provide naval gunfire support and next-generation air defense in near-shore areas where other large ships hesitate to tread, possibly even as the anchor for an action group of stealthy Littoral Combat Ships and submarines. The estimated 14,500t (cruiser sized) Zumwalt Class will be fully multi-role, however, with undersea warfare, anti-ship, and long-range surface attack roles.
That makes the DDG-1000 suitable or another role – as a “hidden ace card,” using its overall stealth to create uncertainty for enemy forces. At over $3 billion per ship for construction alone, however, the program faced significant obstacles if it wanted to avoid fulfilling former Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter’s fears for the fleet.
True, or False?
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DID’s FOCUS Article for the DDG-1000 program covers the new ships’ capabilities and technologies, key controversies, associated contracts and costs, and related background resources. From the outset, DID has noted that the Zumwalt Class might face the same fate as the ultra-sophisticated, ultra-expensive SSN-21 Seawolf Class submarines. That appears to have come true, with news of the program’s cancellation at 3 ships. Or will it be 2?
The latest news involves more funds to finish the ship’s computing backbone, which has been identified as a concern in recent GAO reports…
Design & Preparations Continue for the USA’s New CVN-21 Super-Carrier
09-Nov-2009 17:24 EST |
Related Stories: Americas - USA, Budgets, Contracts - Awards, Contracts - Modifications, Design Innovations, Engines & Propulsion - Naval, Events, FOCUS Articles, Force Structure, Issues - Political, New Systems Tech, Northrop-Grumman, Other Corporation, Procurement Innovations, Surface Ships - Combat, Top Stories
USA’s Nimitz Class &
UK’s Invincible Class
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Some nations have aircraft carriers. The USA has super-carriers. The French Charles De Gaulle Class nuclear carriers displace about 43,000t. India’s new Vikramaditya/ Admiral Gorshkov Class will have a similar displacement. The future British CVF Queen Elizabeth Class and related French PA2 Project are expected to displace about 65,000t (British) – 74,000t (French), while the British Invincible Class carriers that participated in the Falklands War weigh in at around 22,000t. Invincible actually compares well to Italy’s new Cavour Class (27,000t), and Spain’s Principe de Asturias Class (17,000t). The USA’s Nimitz Class and CVN-21 Gerald R. Ford Class, in contrast, fall in the 90,000t-105,000t range. Hence the unofficial designation “super-carriers”. Just one of these ships packs a more potent air force than many nations.
Nimitz Class cutaway
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As the successor to the 102,000 ton Nimitz Class super-carriers, the CVN-21 program aims to increase aircraft sortie generation rates by 20%, increase survivability to better handle future threats, require fewer sailors, and have depot maintenance requirements that could support an increase of up to 25% in operational availability. The combination of a new design nuclear propulsion plant and an improved electric plant are expected to provide 2-3 times the electrical generation capacity of previous carriers, which in turn enables systems like an Electromagnetic Aircraft Launching System (EMALS, replacing steam-driven catapults), Advanced Arresting Gear, and integrated combat electronics that will leverage advances in open systems architecture. Other CVN-21 features include an enhanced flight deck, improved weapons handling and aircraft servicing efficiency, and a flexible island arrangement allowing for future technology insertion. This graphic points out many of the key improvements.
DID’s CVN-21 FOCUS Article offers a detailed look at a number of the program’s key innovations, as well as a list of relevant contract awards and events. The latest news involves the imminent keel-laying for the first ship of class, FY 2010 budget figures, and contract awards and testing milestones for its revolutionary EMALS catapults and AAG arrester system…
LPD-17 San Antonio Class: The USA’s New Amphibious Ships (updated)
05-Nov-2009 15:16 EST |
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LPD-17 cutaway
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LPD-17 San Antonio class amphibious assault support vessels are a new class of ship which is just entering service with the US Navy. Much like their predecessors, their mission is to embark, transport, land, and support elements of a US Marine Corps Landing Force. What changes are the capabilities and technologies incorporated to perform that mission. This new ship class includes significant internal technology and design upgrades, and is designed to operate accompanying platforms like the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft and the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle amphibious armored personnel carrier.
Between 10-11 scheduled ships of this class are slated to assume the functional duties of up to 41 previous ships, including the USA’s older LSD-36 USS Anchorage class dock landing ships (all decommissioned as of 2004, LSD-36 and LSD-38 transferred to Taiwan) and its LPD-4 USS Austin Class ships (12 built and serving, LPD 14 Trenton now India’s INS Jalashva). The San Antonio class ships may also replace 2 classes of ships currently mothballed and held in reserve status under the Amphibious Lift Enhancement Program (ALEP): the LST-1179 Newport class tank landing ships, and LKA-113 Charleston class amphibious cargo ships.
Welcome to Norfolk…
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Replacing that many existing ships is already a very tall order. While its design incorporates notable advances, the San Antonio Class has also had its share of teething problems. So, too, has the New Orleans shipyard to which most of this contract has been assigned. The number of serious issues encountered in this ship class have been much higher than usual, and more extensive. The initial ships have been criticized for sub-standard workmanship, and it took 2 1/2 years after the initial ship of class was delivered and accepted before any ship of class was sent on an operational cruise. Whereupon the USS San Antonio promptly found itself laid up Bahrain due to oil leaks. Meanwhile, costs are almost twice the originally promised amounts at over $1.7 billion per ship – 2 to 3 times as much as many foreign LPD classes, and more than 10 times as much as Singapore’s 6,600 ton Endeavour Class LPD.
DID’s FOCUS articles offer in-depth, updated looks at significant military programs of record. This is DID’s FOCUS Article for the San Antonio Class, detailing the ships’ unique features and capabilities, its program innovations and issues, ship timelines, and related contracts throughout the program’s history. As has become DID custom, the most recent additions are highlighted in green type. The latest developments include a contract to Raytheon that could be worth over $175 million, and the imminent commissioning of the LPD 21 New York, which contains steel from the destroyed World Trade Center…
The USA’s New Littoral Combat Ships (updated)
26-Oct-2009 11:36 EDT |
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General Dynamics Team
Trimaran LCS Design
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Exploit simplicity, numbers, the pace of technology development in electronics and robotics, and fast reconfiguration. That was the US Navy’s idea for the low-end backbone of its future surface combatant fleet. Inspired by successful experiments like Denmark’s Standard Flex ships, the US Navy’s $30+ billion “Littoral Combat Ship” program was intended to create a new generation of affordable surface combatants that could operate in dangerous shallow and near-shore environments, while remaining affordable and capable throughout their lifetimes.
It hasn’t worked that way. In practice, what the Navy wanted, the capabilities needed to perform primary naval missions, and what could be delivered for the sums available, have proven nearly irreconcilable. The LCS program has changed its fundamental acquisition plan several times since 2005, and canceled contracts with both competing teams, without escaping any of its fundamental issues.
The latest additions include completion of LCS-2 builder tests, and plans to deploy LCS-1 ahead of schedule…
AMDR Competition: The USA’s Next Dual-Band Radar
06-Aug-2009 19:48 EDT |
Related Stories: Americas - USA, Contracts - Awards, Design Innovations, Lockheed Martin, New Systems Tech, Northrop-Grumman, Official Reports, Other Corporation, R&D - Contracted, Radars, Raytheon, Surface Ships - Combat, Think Tanks
DBR testbed, Wallops
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The US Navy’s Dual-Band Radar that equips its forthcoming 14,500t Zumwalt class “destroyers” and Gerald R. Ford class super-carriers replaces several different radars with a single back-end. Pairing Raytheon’s X-band SPY-3 with Lockheed Martin’s S-band VSR in this way allows fewer radar antennas, faster response time, faster adaptation to new situations, one-step upgrades to the radar suite as a whole, and better utilization of the ship’s power, electronics, and bandwidth. Read “The US Navy’s Dual Band Radars” for more.
Rather than using the existing Dual-Band Radar design in new ships, the “Air and Missile Defense Radar” (AMDR) aims to fulfill future CG (X) cruiser needs through a new competition. The winner will actually have 2 deployment opportunities, one of which could be far bigger than the DBR’s…
- AMDR: Opportunities and Challenges
- AMDR: The Contenders
- AMDR: Contracts and Key Events
- Additional Readings
Continue reading…
The US Navy’s Dual Band Radars
26-Apr-2009 18:02 EDT |
Related Stories: Americas - USA, Contracts - Awards, Contracts - Modifications, Lockheed Martin, New Systems Tech, R&D - Contracted, R&D - Private, Radars, Raytheon, Surface Ships - Combat
DBR on CVN-21
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The US Navy’s newest light cruiser and aircraft carrier designs offer a wide array of new technologies. One is the Dual-Band Radar (DBR) system, which can be scaled up or down for installation in the new DDG-1000 Zumwalt Class “destroyers”, and the CVN-21 Gerald R. Ford Class aircraft carriers.
The DBR concept involves a significant change from current naval design approaches, and that change is not without risk. The USA’s GAO audit office has identified it as a significant risk to on-time fielding of the USS Zumwalt [DDG 1000], and any more development or testing snags could widen those impacts to include other ships. The radar is beginning to move from design to production, however, following a successful full-power “lightoff” of both DBR radars in an early April 2009 test.
The latest development involves a significant production contract for one of the DBR’s modules…
- DBR: Concept and Comparisons
- DBR: Contracts and Key Developments
- DBR: Additional Readings
Continue reading…
Gates Lays Out Key FY 2010 Budget Recommendations
06-Apr-2009 23:42 EDT |
Related Stories: ABM, Americas - USA, Bases & Infrastructure, C4ISR, Coastal & Littoral, Fighters & Attack, Force Structure, Heavy Bombers, Helicopters & Rotary, IT - Cyber-Security, IT - Networks & Bandwidth, Issues - Political, Lobbying, Medical, Specialty Aircraft, Surface Ships - Combat, Tanks & Mechanized, Transport & Utility, UAVs, Warfare - Lessons
Gates & Cartwright
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On April 6/09, US Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates did something unusual: he convened a press conference to announce key budget recommendations in advance. That’s a substantial departure from normal procedure, in which the Office of the President’s submitted budget is the first official public notification of key funding decisions. Gates’ departure was done with full official approval, however, as the Pentagon and White House begin their efforts to convince Congress.
That’s likely to be a difficult task. Congress (the US House of Representatives and Senate) has full budgetary authority within the American system, subject only to the threat of Presidential veto. In the past, this has kept a number of programs alive despite the Pentagon’s best efforts to kill them. Sometimes, that stubbornness has improved America’s defense posture. Sometimes, it has done the opposite. For good or ill, that process has now begun. Again.
Gates’ announcement, made in the presence of Joint Chiefs of Staff Vice Chairman Gen. James Cartwright, USMC, aims to make significant changes to America’s defense programs. Several would be ended or terminated. Others would be stretched out over a longer period. Still others will gain resources. DID provides the roundup, with links to related articles that offer program background…
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USA: A 21st Century Maritime Posture for an Uncertain Future
23-Mar-2009 17:01 EDT |
Related Stories: Americas - USA, Coastal & Littoral, Force Structure, Industry & Trends, Issues - Political, Submarines, Surface Ships - Combat, Surface Ships - Other, Think Tanks
By The Heritage Foundation’s Mackenzie Eaglen and Eric Sayers
USN Fleet plan, 2009
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House Armed Services Committee Chairman Representative Ike Skelton [D-MO] recently expressed his concern about the state of the United States Navy, noting that since the Cold War ended, the U.S. ”...forgot that we are a maritime nation. We forgot that lesson of history that only the nations with powerful navies are able to exert power and influence, and when a navy disappears so does that nation’s power.”
In The Heritage Foundation’s Jan 28/09 publication “Quadrennial Defense Review: Building Blocks for National Defense,” we argued that:
“The U.S. has 11 aircraft carriers, and that number should increase to 13 over the longer term. The number of cruisers and destroyers should increase from a projected 88 to 100, and the number of attack submarines should rise from 48 to at least 60. This should be facilitated, in part, by reducing the projected number of littoral combat ships from 55 to 20. Further, the QDR should at least consider recommending that the Navy proceed with DDG-1000 procurement instead of extending the construction of DDG-51 Arleigh Burke destroyers by ensuring that the DDG-1000s will have both air and ballistic missile defense capabilities.”
This article is set within the context of Heritage’s overall QDR recommendations, which were necessarily brief. It expands on the strategic, tactical, and industrial rationales behind the choices that we believe a secure America will require, within the context of Heritage’s belief that America needs consistent defense budgets around 4% of national GDP.
- A Maritime Nation
- An Inherently Uncertain Future
- A Navy for Force Projection
- Building A Global Maritime Constabulary Force
- A Coast Guard for Constabulary Missions
- Maintaining a Viable Shipbuilding Industrial Base
- Additional Readings
Continue reading…
US Navy on the T-AKE As It Beefs Up Supply Ship Capacity
22-Mar-2009 12:39 EDT |
Related Stories: Americas - USA, Contracts - Awards, Contracts - Modifications, Design Innovations, Force Structure, Forces - Naval, General Dynamics, Issues - Environmental, Logistics, Logistics Innovations, New Systems Tech, Power Projection, Surface Ships - Other
USNS Sacagawea
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The entire T-AKE dry cargo/ ammunition ship program could have a total value of as much as $6.2 billion, and a size of 14 ships, as the US looks to modernize its supply fleet. The House Armed Services Committee put together an FY 2008 budget that added $456 million for another T-AKE ship – though this figure would not cover all of the internal systems etc. that must be added to make it operational. The FY 2009 budget added 2 more, bringing the total number of contracted ships to 12.
How do T-AKE ships fit into US naval operations? What ships do they replace? What’s the tie-in to US civilian industrial capacity? How were environmental standards built into their design? And what contracts have been issued for T-AKE ships to date? DID has answers in this FOCUS Article. Recent updates include a day in the life aboard T-AKE 5, and milestones for 3 ships of class…
