Arleigh Burke-class destroyer

The Arleigh Burke class of guided missile destroyers (DDGs) is the United States Navy's first class of destroyer built around the Aegis Combat System and the SPY-1D multi-function phased array radar. The class is named for Admiral Arleigh Burke, the most famous American destroyer officer of World War II, and later Chief of Naval Operations. The class leader, USS Arleigh Burke, was commissioned during Admiral Burke's lifetime.

They were designed as multi-role destroyers to fit the AAW (Anti-Aircraft Warfare) with their powerful Aegis radar and anti-aircraft missiles, ASW (Anti-submarine warfare), with their towed sonar array, anti-submarine rockets, and ASW helicopter, ASUW (Anti-surface warfare) with their Harpoon missile launcher, and strategic land strike using their Tomahawk missiles. Some versions of the class no longer have the towed sonar, or Harpoon missile launcher. Their hull and superstructure were designed to have a reduced radar cross section The first ship of the class was commissioned on 4 July 1991. With the decommissioning of the last, USS Cushing (DD-985), on 21 September 2005, the Arleigh Burke-class ships became the U.S. Navy's only active destroyers; the class has the longest production run for any postwar U.S. Navy surface combatant. The Arleigh Burke class is planned to be the third most numerous class of destroyer to serve in the U.S. Navy, after the and es; besides the 62 vessels of this class (comprising 21 of Flight I, 7 of Flight II and 34 of Flight IIA) in service by 2013, up to a further 42 (of Flight III) have been envisaged.

With an overall length of 505 ft to 509 ft, displacement ranging from 8,315 to 9,200 tons, and weaponry including over 90 missiles, the Arleigh Burke-class ships are larger and more heavily armed than most previous ships classified as guided missile cruisers.

Characteristics


The Arleigh Burke class is among the largest destroyers built in the United States. Only the and es were longer (563 ft). The Burke class are multi-mission ships with a "combination of... an advanced anti-submarine warfare system, land attack cruise missiles, ship-to-ship missiles, and advanced anti-aircraft missiles," The larger ships were constructed on Spruance-class hullforms, but are designated as cruisers due to their radically different mission and weapons systems. The Burke class on the other hand were designed with a new, large, water-plane area-hull form characterized by a wide flaring which significantly improves sea-keeping ability. The hull form is designed to permit high speed in high sea states.

The Arleigh Burke's designers incorporated lessons learned from the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers; with the Arleigh Burke class, the U.S. Navy also returned to all-steel construction. An earlier generation had combined a steel hull with an innovative superstructure made of lighter aluminum to reduce topweight, but the lighter metal proved vulnerable to cracking. Aluminum is also less fire-resistant than steel. A 1975 fire aboard USS Belknap (CG-26) gutted her aluminum superstructure. Battle damage to Royal Navy ships exacerbated by their aluminum superstructures during the 1982 Falklands War supported the decision to use steel. Another lesson from the Falklands War led the navy to protect the ship's vital spaces with double-spaced steel armor (creating a buffer for modern rockets), and kevlar spall liners.

The Ticonderoga-class cruisers were deemed too expensive to continue building and too difficult to further upgrade. The angled rather than traditional vertical surfaces and the tripod mainmast of the Arleigh Burke design are stealth techniques, which make the ship more difficult to detect, in particular by anti-ship missiles.

A Collective Protection System makes the Arleigh Burke class the first U.S. warships designed with an air-filtration system against nuclear, biological and chemical warfare.

Their Aegis radar differs from a traditional rotating radar that mechanically rotates 360 degrees for each "sweep" scan of the airspace which allows continual tracking of targets. The system's computer control also allows centralization of the previously separate tracking and targeting functions. The system is also resistant to electronic counter-measures. Their standalone Harpoon anti-ship missile launchers give them an anti-ship capability with a range in excess of 64 nm. " The 5"/54 caliber Mark 45 gun, in conjunction with the Mark 34 Gun Weapon System, is an anti-ship weapon which can also be used for close-in air contacts or to support forces ashore with Naval Gun-Fire Support (NGF), with a range of up to 20 miles and capable of firing 20 rounds per minute." The class' Sparrow missile provide point defense against missiles and aircraft while the Standard Missile provides area anti-aircraft defense, additionally the ship has an electronics warfare suite that provides passive detection and decoy countermeasures.

The class' Light airborne multipurpose system, or LAMPS helicopter system improves the ship's capabilities against submarines and surface ships, a helicopter able to serve as a platform to monitor submarines and surface ships, and launch torpedoes and missiles against them, as well as being able to support ground assaults with machine guns and Hellfire anti-armor guided missiles. The helicopters also serve in a utility role, able to perform ship replenishment, search and rescue, medical evacuation, communications relay, and naval gunfire spotting and controlling.

Arleigh Burke-class destroyers have many combat systems. Burkes have the Navy's latest anti-submarine combat system with active sonar, a towed sonar array, and anti-submarine rockets. They support strategic land strikes with their VLS launched Tomahawks. They are able to detect anti-ship mines at a range of 1400 yards.

So vital has the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMD) role of the class become that all ships of the class are being updated with BMD capability. Burke production is being restarted in place of additional s.

Development
In 1980, the U.S. Navy initiated design studies with seven contractors. By 1983 the number of competitors had been reduced to three: Bath Iron Works, Todd Shipyards and Ingalls Shipbuilding. On 3 April 1985 Bath Iron Works received a US$321.9 million contract to build the first of class, USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51). Gibbs & Cox was awarded the contract to be the lead ship design agent. The total cost of the first ship was put at US$1.1 billion, the other US$778 million being for the ship's weapons systems. She was laid down by the Bath Iron Works at Bath, Maine, on 6 December 1988, and launched on 16 September 1989 by Mrs. Arleigh Burke. The Admiral himself was present at her commissioning ceremony on 4 July 1991, held on the waterfront in downtown Norfolk, Virginia.



The "Flight IIA Arleigh Burke" ships have several new features, beginning with the USS Oscar Austin (DDG-79). Among the changes are the addition of two hangars for ASW helicopters, and a new, longer Mark 45 Mod 4 5-inch/62-caliber naval gun (fitted on USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81) and later ships). Later Flight IIA ships starting with USS Mustin (DDG-89) have a modified funnel design that buries the funnels within the superstructure as a signature-reduction measure. TACTAS towed array sonar was omitted from Flight IIA ships and they also lack Harpoon missile launchers. Ships from DDG-68 to DDG-84 have AN/SLQ-32 antennas that resemble V3 configuration similar to those deployed on s, while the remainder have V2 variants externally resembling those deployed on some s. V3 has an active electronic countermeasures component while V2 is passive only. A number of Flight IIA ships were constructed without a Phalanx CIWS because of the planned Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile, but later the Navy decided to retrofit all IIA ships to carry at least one Phalanx CIWS by 2013.

USS Pinckney (DDG-91), USS Momsen (DDG-92), USS Chung-Hoon (DDG-93), USS Nitze (DDG-94), USS James E. Williams (DDG-95) and USS Bainbridge (DDG-96) have superstructure differences to accommodate the Remote Mine-hunting System (RMS). Mk 32 torpedo tubes were moved to the missile deck from amidships as well.

Modernization
The U.S. Navy has begun a modernization program for the Arleigh Burke class aimed at improving the gun systems on the ships in an effort to address congressional concerns over the retirement of the s. This modernization was to include an extension of the range of the 5-inch (127 mm) guns on the flight I Arleigh Burke-class destroyers (USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) to USS Ross (DDG-71)) with extended range guided munitions (ERGMs) that would have given the guns a range of 40 nmi. However, the ERGM was cancelled in 2008.

The modernization program is designed to provide a comprehensive mid-life upgrade to ensure that the class remains effective. Reduced manning, increased mission effectiveness, and a reduced total cost including construction, maintenance, and operation are the goals of the modernization program. Modernization technologies will be integrated during new construction of DDG-111 and 112, then retrofitted into DDG flight I and II ships during in-service overhaul periods. The first phase will update the hull, mechanical, and electrical systems while the second phase will introduce an open architecture computing environment (OACE). The result will be improved capability in both ballistic missile defense (BMD) and littoral combat. By 2018 all Burkes homeported in the Western Pacific will have upgraded anti-submarine systems, including the new AN/SQR-20 Multifunction Towed Array.

The Navy is also upgrading the ships' ability to process data. Beginning with USS Spruance, the Navy is installing an internet protocol (IP) based data backbone, which enhances the ship's ability to handle video. Spruance is the first destroyer to be fitted with the Boeing Company's gigabit Ethernet data multiplex system (GEDMS).

In July 2010 BAE Systems announced that it had been awarded a contract to modernize 11 ships.

As of 2013, the Navy plans to conduct hybrid-electric propulsion tests to determine suitability for powering one of the ship's two propellers. This hybrid system, used on the USS Makin Island (LHD-8) and s, uses both diesel-electric propulsion and gas-turbine engines; the electric motors are capable of speeds of up to 12 knots, greater speeds necessitating use of the gas-turbine engine. If the Navy proceeds with installing hybrid propulsion, it is likely to be progressively retrofitted to existing ships as a part of their mid-life upgrades. The Navy is also studying a "stern flap" that would alter water flow around the hull and anti-corrosion paints may be applied to the hull for greater movement efficiency; both measures are aimed at reducing operational fuel consumption. New navigational software, the Smart Voyage Planning Software, is to be used to calculate water conditions and other environmental factors in order to maximize the efficiency of a vessel's route.

Production restarted and further development
The class was scheduled to be replaced by s beginning in 2020, but an increasing threat from both long- and short-range missiles caused the Navy to restart production of the Arleigh Burke-class and consider placing littoral combat mission modules on the new ships.

In April 2009 the Navy announced a plan that limited the Zumwalt-class to three units while ordering another three Arleigh Burke-class ships from both Bath Iron Works and Ingalls Shipbuilding. In December 2009 Northrop Grumman received a $170.7 million letter contract for DDG-113 long-lead-time materials. Shipbuilding contracts for DDG-113 to DDG-115 were awarded in mid-2011 for US$679.6m–$783.6m; these do not include government-furnished equipment such as weapons and sensors which will take the average cost of the FY2011/12 ships to US$1,842.7m per vessel. DDG-113 to DDG-115 will be "restart" ships, similar to previous Flight IIA ships, but including modernization features such as Open Architecture Computing Environment; DDG-116 to DDG-121 will be "Technology Insertion" ships with elements of Flight III, and Flight III proper will start with DDG-122.

Flight III ships, construction starting in FY2016 in place of the canceled CG(X) program, have various design improvements including radar antennas of mid-diameter increased to 14 ft from the previous 12 ft. These Air and Missile Defense Radars (AMDR) use digital beamforming, instead of the earlier Passive Electronically Scanned Array radars.

However, costs for the Flight III ships increased rapidly as expectations and requirements for the program have grown. In particular, this was due to the changing requirements needed to carry the proposed Air and Missile Defense Radar system required for the ships' ballistic missile defense role. The Government Accountability Office found that the design of the Flight IIIs was based on "a significantly reduced threat environment from other Navy analyses" and that the new ships would be "at best marginally effective".

In spite of the production restart, the Navy is expected to fall short of its requirement for 94 missile-defense-capable destroyer and cruiser platforms starting in FY 2025 and continuing past the end of the 30-year planning window. While this is a new requirement as of 2011, and the United States Navy has never had so many large missile-armed surface combatants, the relative success of the Aegis ballistic missile defense system has shifted this national security requirement onto the Navy. The shortfall will arise as older platforms that have been refitted to be missile-defense-capable (particularly the cruisers) are retired in bulk before new destroyers are planned to be built.

The Navy is considering extending the acquisition of Arleigh Burke-class destroyers into the 2040s, according to revised procurement tables sent to Congress, which have the Navy procuring Flight IV ships from 2032 through 2041.

Operational history
Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Cole (DDG-67) was damaged on 12 October 2000 in Aden, Yemen while docked, by an attack in which an apparently shaped charge of 200–300 kg in a boat was placed against the hull and detonated by suicide bombers, killing 17 crew members. The ship was repaired, and returned to duty in 2001.

In October 2011 it was announced that four Arleigh Burke-class destroyers would be forward-deployed in Europe to support the NATO missile defence system. The ships, to be based at Naval Station Rota, Spain, were named in February 2012, as Ross, Donald Cook, Porter and Carney. By reducing travel times to station, this forward deployment will allow for six other destroyers to be shifted from the Atlantic in support of the Pivot to East Asia.

Contractors

 * Builders: 34 units constructed by General Dynamics, Bath Iron Works Division and 28 by Northrop Grumman Ship Systems, Ingalls Shipbuilding
 * AN/SPY-1 Radar and Combat System Integrator: Lockheed Martin

Ships in class
USS Michael Murphy was originally intended to be the last of the Arleigh Burke class. However with reduction of the production, the Navy requested new DDG-51-class ships. Long-lead materials contracts were awarded to Northrop Grumman in December 2009 for DDG-113 and in April 2010 for DDG-114. General Dynamics received a long-lead materials contract for DDG-115 in February 2010. It is anticipated that in FY2012 or FY2013, the Navy will commence detailed work for a Flight III design and request 24 ships to be built from 2016 to 2031. In May 2013, a total of 77 Burke-class ships was planned. The Flight III variant is in the design phase as of 2013. In June 2013, the US Navy awarded $6.2 billion in destroyer contracts. Up to 42 Flight III ships are expected to be procured by the Navy with the first ship entering service in 2023.

Foreign interest
In May 2011 Saudi Arabia received a price estimate for the purchase of Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.