The U.S. Navy's Super Stealth Destroyer Is Almost Ready for BattleKris Osborn
April 28, 2017
http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/the-us-navys-super-stealth-destroyer-almost-ready-battle-20389The Navy's new stealthy destroyer will soon fire precision rounds from its long-range deck gun and fire SM-2 missiles from its vertical launch tubes.
The Navy's new "first-of-its-kind," high-tech stealthy destroyer, armed with the most lethal weapons ever engineered onto a surface ship, is now beginning what’s called “ship activation" - a process of integrating the major systems and technologies on the ship leading up to an eventual live-fire exercise of its guns and missiles.
As part of this process, the Navy will eventually fire long-range precision guns and missiles from its lethal, stealthy new destroyer -- in anticipation of its ultimate deployment on the open seas, service and industry officials explained.
The new destroyer, called the USS Zumwalt, is a 610-foot land and surface warfare attack ship designed with a stealthy, wave-piercing “tumblehome” hull.
Raytheon has been chosen to begin mission systems testing, engineering services and ship activation duties in support of the Navy’s Zumwalt-class destroyer program.
The deal, which could reach $500 million, will include production, integration and testing on the ship, a Pentagon announcement said.
This work corresponds to the ongoing work of the Navy and Raytheon on the Zumwalt next-generation computer systems and blade servers being tested aboard the ship.
The new system, called Total Ship Computing Environment, as had a number of software releases, with the eighth upgrade being integrated this year, Capt. Kevin Smith, DDG 1000 program manager, explained at the Navy League’s Annual Sea Air Space exhibition at National Harbor, Md.
On Friday May 20, 2016, the new ship was formally delivered to the Navy at Bath Iron Works in Portland, Maine.The ship was formally commissioned in October of last year.
“The shape of the superstructure and the arrangement of its antennas significantly reduce radar cross section, making the ship less visible to enemy radar at sea,” a Navy statement said.
"The U.S. Navy accepted delivery of the most technically complex and advanced warship the world has ever seen," Rear Adm. (select) James Downey, DDG 1000 Program Manager, said in a written statement last year.
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