The most daring project of the US Navy at the present time is the construction of the Zumwalt-class destroyers. This project uses the newest and most daring technologies, which leads to particular complexity and numerous difficulties. Recently it became known that the lead destroyer is again encountering significant difficulties, and this again prevents the achievement of full operational readiness.
Latest news
New reports of the failures and problems of the Zumwalt project on October 9 were reported by the Bloomberg news agency, citing the press service of the US Navy. The naval forces pointed to the persistence of problems and another failure to meet the deadlines. In addition, new plans for the first destroyer in the series have been announced.
According to previous plans, the lead destroyer of the USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) series was to reach full operational readiness in September of this year. However, these plans could not be fulfilled. Testing and testing of onboard systems continues and faces some unnamed challenges. As a result, the Navy and industry are forced to continue fine-tuning the ship.
The previously approved work schedule was disrupted, but the command approved a new one. Full readiness will not take place before the second quarter of the 2020 calendar year. Due to the delay and the need to continue work, the Pentagon has requested additional funding in the amount of $ 163 million.
No new information about the nature of the existing difficulties and problems was announced. According to earlier reports from the Navy and the media, the tests revealed numerous problems with overcomplicated computer systems, new weapons, etc.
Ship anti-record
The destroyer USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) is the lead ship of the project of the same name, whose task was to dramatically increase the combat capability of the American fleet. It was laid down in February 2011, and handed over to the naval forces in October 2016. Since then, the ship has made several voyages, but has not yet reached a state of full readiness for service and combat missions.
Against the background of real events, the initial plans for the program, which were formed in the middle of the 2000s, look extremely interesting. The lead ship was going to be laid in the near future and launched in 2012-13. In the middle of the decade, he was supposed to start serving. Due to subsequent construction and testing problems, the schedule was revised and all major events shifted to the right.
In reality, it will take about nine years from the bookmark to the start of the full service of the ship - of which three and a half years have passed since the delivery of the destroyer to the Navy. To this can also be added the original dates approved more than 10 years ago. The unacceptably long duration of construction, testing and development is a record and unpleasantly distinguishes the current Zumwalt project against the background of other American destroyers.
The anti-record was set not only in terms of timing, but also in terms of cost. Early plans called for 32 limited-cost ships. It was planned to spend $ 3.5 billion on the lead destroyer, and no more than $ 2.5 billion on serial ones.
During the construction of the lead USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000), the cost of the ship grew steadily, which led to the reduction of the entire series to three units. At the same time, the total cost of design and construction reached $ 22.5 billion - an average of approx. 7.5 billion per ship.
The fine-tuning of the first destroyer has not been completed, and new spending is planned for next year. Thus, its value continues to rise. For the price of this ship with missile and artillery armament is already equal to the nuclear aircraft carriers of the previous generation.
Problem solving
Over the past few years, the US Navy has regularly disclosed information on the progress of the development of the destroyer USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000). Recently, the first serial ship USS Michael Monsoor (DDG-1001) has appeared in similar news. USS Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG-1002) will soon join them.
Tests and fine-tuning of the lead destroyer led to known results, and the Navy had to take the necessary measures. Together with several companies responsible for the construction of ships and the production of onboard equipment, they test and fine-tune the lead ship. Most of the shortcomings have already been corrected, and it takes only a few months to eliminate the remaining ones.
According to various sources, the experience of testing and fine-tuning the lead USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) was immediately taken into account in the construction of the other two ships. The design was being finalized, general ship and other systems were being finalized, electronics were being improved, etc. Thanks to this, it is expected that the new destroyers will be deprived of a number of "innate" shortcomings of their predecessor.
Nevertheless, it cannot be ruled out that such an approach will make it possible to get rid of all problems in a timely manner. First of all, it should be remembered that not all the problems of the lead ship could be identified and corrected before testing the next destroyers. Thus, shortly after delivery, the two ships will need medium repairs to modernize the structure and instrumentation.
So far, the problem with artillery weapons remains unresolved. Zumwalt destroyers carry two 155 mm AGS artillery mounts. The guns were developed for the use of long-range guided projectiles LRLAP. Due to the complexity and lack of special commercial prospects, such a projectile was distinguished by an extremely high price - approx. 800 thousand dollars. As a result, in November 2016 the LRLAP project was closed. Installations AGS were left without the only compatible ammunition and therefore idle on ships idle. There are no realistic plans to return the artillery to service so far.
The long-awaited ending
And yet now the situation with the destroyer USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) gives some reason for optimism. This time, the achievement of full operational readiness was postponed for a shorter period, which indicates that there are fewer problems to be solved. Thus, the ship can indeed begin full service after the first quarter of 2020.
The state of affairs with the other two ships of the new project is not entirely clear. Their fine-tuning may take several years, but after 2020 they will definitely be included in the combat composition of the US Navy and will be able to solve the assigned tasks.
Thus, in the project of the Zumwalt destroyers, the situation remains characteristic of new and daring developments. Excessive technical courage leads to the appearance of a lot of shortcomings, finding and fixing which requires spending time and money. However, no one is going to give up the new ships - and at any cost they will be brought to full service.
However, the appearance of only three revolutionary new destroyers will not have a significant impact on the combat capability of the Navy. Destroyers Arleigh Burke will remain the main surface ships of the US fleet for the coming decades. Their construction continues, and they will have to serve for almost half a century.
