DD(X) on the Spot

by Michael Puttré
Jun. 1, 2002

The US Navy announced at the end of April that Ingalls Shipbuilding, Inc., a unit of Northrop Grumman, had been selected as the lead designer for the $2.9-billion DD(X) ship program. The win by the Gold Team, of which Raytheon is the systems integrator, looking at a $1.4-billion stake; was immediately and energetically challenged by Bath Iron Works, a unit of General Dynamics and the lead on the rival Blue Team, of which Lockheed Martin is a systems integrator and Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems a key supplier. A technology transfer firewall failure with respect to Northrop Grumman, which straddles Gold and Blue and whose SPY-3 phased-array volume-search radar is common to both teams' proposals, was cited as one point of contention. Another is the US Navy's apparent refusal to allow the Blue Team access to a Spruance-class destroyer as a test bed while agreeing to allow the Gold Team access to such a vessel. There were also alleged irregularities in how the Navy scored the competition.

The Blue Team's protest will almost certainly cause delays in a program that has a storied history dating back to the days when it was the DD-21 Land Attack Destroyer, itself arising out of the so-called Arsenal Ship concept. There will be a lot of ink spilled about the controversy. Realistically, such a delay will have little practical significance over and above which team ultimately gets the prize. Furthermore, the competing designs are really not so different in what the ships are conceptually capable of. In fact, the ship that will derive from DD(X) has almost the same mission as the one defined for DD-21 insofar as the operational requirements document reportedly has only been slightly modified in a couple of areas.

Of greater significance are the technologies that are being developed under the DD(X) program that ultimately will propagate throughout a family of surface combatants, from a littoral warfare ship up through the next-generation cruiser. Each of the engineering development models (EDMs) is in effect a critical program that will be managed by separate program managers. Ultimately, the majority of the EDMs will be integrated into a Spruance-class ship, where they will undergo comprehensive at-sea testing in an integrated fashion for a critical design review in FY05.

Here are a few of the key EDMs that the Gold Team proposed for the winning DD(X) design:

A Dual-Band Radar combines a multi-function radar (X-band) with a new volume search radar (L-band). In effect these are two phased-array radars that are integrated into a single design, with three X-band faces for missile illumination and fire control and three L-band faces for long-range search. The first multi-function radar of this class is the SPY-3. The volume search radar will be architecturally identical to the SPY-3. The Dual Band Radar will be going to sea on the test bed.

The Total Computing Ship Environment is a representative computing environment that integrates C4ISR, command & decision, and the full combat system. It is a highly software-intensive project, and is the bulk of the software development for DD(X). This will go on the at-sea demonstrator.

The Integrated Deck House and Apertures is the overall topside and all of the apertures for solid-state electronic systems, specifically communications, radar, and for EW.

An Advanced Vertical Launching System (VLS) will be designed and fabricated. In the Gold Team approach it is a peripheral VLS, in which modular cells are located around the ship in groups or individually rather than in one or two large banks, as with existing VLS designs. A concept system will be taken out to White Sands for test firing, however Advanced VLS will not be integrated onto the test ship. Raytheon said that the Gold Team may put a couple of the cells on board the test ship, but not the full system.

The Infrared Mock-Up will consist of samples of all treatment materials and coatings to determine their IR properties for the purposes of signature reduction. This highly-classified activity will be conducted in a standalone fashion, however key features of the IR Mock Up will be integrated into the ship test platform.

The Advanced Gun System Magazine will be designed and fabricated as a 50-round magazine that will undergo substantial testing on the ship. The production magazine for any future combatant will be larger. The Advanced Gun System will not go to sea. It is intended as a standalone program.

The Hull-Form Scale Model is a separate EDM that allows the team to prove out the wave-piercing tumblehome hull using a series of models.

The Integrated Undersea-Warfare System (IUSW) is a brand new system that incorporates sonar, mine warfare, and torpedo defense. In the case of the Gold Team, team there is a dual-aperture sonar that will be tested at sea.

The Integrated Propulsion System is the so-called "electric drive" being developed by Newport News and Kaman Aerospace that is extremely important to the concept in terms of reducing the acoustic signature. This will go to sea on the demonstrator.

"One of the concepts that we have across our entire system is that we no longer look at equipment on DD(X) as a radar or a sonar because if you do that you lose some of the power of this networked capability that we are building," said Jack Cronin, Raytheon's vice president for DD(X). "In fact, what we're constructing are suites of hardware that enable integrated capabilities."

The concept of totally integrated electronics rather than discrete systems could have a profound impact on the way shipboard EW is implemented on future surface combatants. "The ship is designed to have an inherently survivable hull through the use of signature reduction techniques," Cronin said. "This is a key part of the program. But in addition, we have an integrated communications suite that Raytheon is developing that is a solid-state set of apertures that cover the full tactical spectrum, and within that tactical spectrum is the need for EW capability that is built-in."

The cancellation of the Advanced Integrated Electronic Warfare System (AIEWS) program puts the US naval EW community in a quandary. However, Cronin said that EW on the future destroyer and cruiser will likely derive from the work already done on AIEWS. Intriguing is the notion of EW becoming a software-driven application that uses receivers and transmitters of communications and radar systems through common apertures.