Next Generation US Navy Destroyers 2032

The US Navy DDG(X) program wants next-generation guided-missile destroyers (DDGs) to replace the Navy’s Ticonderoga (CG-47) class Aegis cruisers and older Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) class Aegis destroyers. The US Navy plans to start buying the first DDG(X) in FY2032. The Navy’s proposed FY2024 budget requests $187.4 million in research and development funding for the program. The CBO (Congressional Budget Office) is currently projecting each DDGX Destroyer will cost $3.4 billion each. The first Arleigh Burke Destroyer in 1989 cost $1.1 billion. Historically, US military systems end up costing much more than the projections ten years prior to the first acquisition.

The Navy has indicated that the initial [DDG(X)] design prescribes a displacement of 13,500 tons. This would be about 39% greater than the 9,700-ton Flight III DDG-51 design.

The US Navy wants a future 350-ship fleet and DDGX would eventually be 50-100 ships of that Navy. The 350-ship fleet may or may not include a large number of large robotic ships. The robotic ships will be built but the ship count might be just the regularly manned ships. One hundred DDGX in 2040 at $3.4 billion a piece is $340 billion. If prices end up being double then it would be $680 billion for $6.8 billion each.

The Navy has just completed about 12 months of design of the DDGX. The ship will be bigger and have larger missile launchers. They want to have higher-power lasers and long-range strike hypersonic weapons. It will have more sensor, bigger sensors and more electrical capacity.

One of those sensors is the SPY-6 radar, built by Raytheon. It is currently being integrated on Navy ships. The powerful sensor will inevitably be improved upon, but may require more power by the 2030s.

Directed energy weapons are currently too expensive to deploy into current ships and the program is delayed. The Navy has now received six high-energy lasers with integrated optical-dazzler and surveillance, or HELIOS, systems from its maker Lockheed Martin. The US Navy remains committed to getting high-energy lasers into ships for the 2030s. The notional design is for the DDGX destroyer to have two 600-kilowatt lasers.

The US Navy is spending over $26 billion on research and development out of an overall $255 billion budget in 2024. The budget increases by 5-10% in an average year.

The new Standard Missile-6, or SM-6, which can do anti-air defense, ballistic missile defense and anti-surface warfare, is being integrated onto Navy ships now.

The Navy is currently developing the Conventional Prompt Strike weapon, which would travel at speeds higher than Mach 5 and be maneuverable.

The Navy wants the new hypersonic weapon to be ready by 2028, a few years before the DDG(X) is ready. The three Zumwalt-class destroyers and Virginia-class submarines are the first destinations for any new hypersonic technology.

Science and technology (S&T) research is vital to provide for future technologies that support innovative capabilities in shipbuilding, aviation, weapons, and expeditionary equipment. Beyond the S&T phase, research and development (R&D) is fundamental to major acquisition programs such as the Columbia class ballistic submarine program, which recapitalizes our strategic nuclear deterrent. Other major areas of R&D effort include investments in future aircraft carrier, surface, submarine, and logistics vessels; unmanned systems; electromagnetic warfare; and cyberspace warfare. The FY 2024 RDT&E, N budget provides investment in the development of Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) to deliver a hypersonic offensive strike weapon. The budget also accelerates development of the Navy Laser Family of Systems (NLFoS) to provide Navy ships with laser weapons in the protection against near-term threats.