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Navy DDG(X) Next-Generation Destroyer Program:
Background and Issues for Congress
Introduction
ship has changed before and could change again.
The Navy’s DDG(X) program envisages procuring a class
Procurement of Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) class
of next-generation guided-missile destroyers (DDGs) to
destroyers—the type of large surface combatant currently
replace the Navy’s aging Ticonderoga (CG-47) class Aegis
being procured by the Navy—would end at about the time
cruisers. The Navy wants to procure the first DDG(X) in
that DDG(X) procurement would begin. The Navy’s
FY2028. The Navy’s proposed FY2022 budget requests
FY2021 budget submission suggested that the final DDG-
$121.8 million in research and development funding for the
51 would be procured around FY2027.
program. The issue for Congress is whether to approve,
reject, or modify the Navy’s FY2022 funding request and
Figure 1. CG-47 Class Aegis Cruiser
emerging acquisition strategy for the program.
Terminology
Since the 1980s, there has been substantial overlap in the
size and capability of Navy cruisers and destroyers. In part
for this reason, the Navy now refers to its cruisers and
destroyers collectively as large surface combatants (LSCs).
Surface Combatant Industrial Base
All LSCs procured for the Navy since FY1985 have been
built at General Dynamics/Bath Iron Works (GD/BIW) of
Bath, ME, and Huntington Ingalls Industries/Ingalls
Source: Cropped version of U.S. Navy photograph showing USS
Shipbuilding (HII/Ingalls) of Pascagoula, MS. Lockheed
Antietam (CG-54).
Martin and Raytheon are major contractors for Navy
surface ship combat system equipment. The surface
Navy’s General Concept for the Ship
combatant base also includes hundreds of additional
The Navy approved the top-level requirements (i.e., major
component and material supplier firms.
required features) for the DDG(X) in December 2020. The
Navy envisages the DDG(X) as using
Existing CG-47 Class Aegis Cruisers
The Navy procured a total of 27 Ticonderoga (CG-47) class
a new hull design evolved from the DDG-51 and
cruisers (Figure 1) between FY1978 and FY1988. The
Zumwalt (DDG-1000) class destroyer hull designs;
ships entered service between 1983 and 1994. They are
commonly called Aegis cruisers because they are equipped
a next-generation integrated propulsion system (IPS)
with the Aegis combat system, an integrated collection of
that incorporates lessons from the DDG-1000 IPS and
sensors and weapons named for the mythical shield that
the Navy’s new Columbia-class ballistic missile
defended Zeus. The first five CG-47s, which were built to
submarine; and
an earlier technical standard, were judged by the Navy to be
too expensive to modernize and were removed from service
initially, combat system equipment similar to that
in 2004-2005. The Navy’s FY2020 30-year shipbuilding
installed on the Flight III version of the DDG-51
plan projected that the remaining 22 CG-47s would reach
destroyer—the DDG-51 variant that the Navy is
the ends of their service lives and be retired between
currently procuring.
FY2021 and FY2038.
(For more on the DDG-51 and DDG-1000 programs, see
DDG(X) Program
CRS Report RL32109, Navy DDG-51 and DDG-1000
Destroyer Programs: Background and Issues for Congress,
Program Designation
by Ronald O'Rourke.)
In the program designation DDG(X), the X means the
precise design for the ship has not yet been determined. The
Navy officials envision the DDG(X) as being larger than
DDG(X) program was previously known as the Future
the 9,700-ton Flight III DDG-51 design, but smaller than
Large Surface Combatant program.
the 16,000-ton DDG-1000 design. The mid-point between
those two figures is 12,850 tons, though the DDG(X)’s
Procurement Date for Lead Ship
displacement could turn out to be higher or lower than that.
As mentioned earlier, the Navy wants to procure the first
The Navy states that the DDG(X) would
DDG(X) in FY2028, though the date for procuring the first
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Navy DDG(X) Next-Generation Destroyer Program: Background and Issues for Congress
integrate non-developmental systems into a new
of the DDG(X) at $2.9 billion in constant FY2021 dollars.
hull design that incorporates platform flexibility
By way of comparison, the current procurement cost of the
and the space, weight, power and cooling (SWAP-
Flight III DDG-51 is about $2.0 billion.
C) to meet future combatant force capability/system
requirements that are not achievable without the
Program Funding
new hull design. The DDG(X) platform will have
The Navy’s proposed FY2022 budget requests $121.8
the flexibility to rapidly and affordably upgrade to
million in research and development funding for the
future warfighting systems when they become
program, including $79.7 million in Project 0411 (DDG[X]
available as well as have improved range and fuel
Concept Development) within Program Element (PE)
efficiency for increased operational flexibility and
0603564N (Ship Preliminary Design & Feasibility Studies),
which is line 47 in the Navy’s FY2022 research and
decreased demand on the logistics force. DDG(X)
development account, and $42.1 million for “DDG(X)
will provide an Integrated Power System with
Power & Propulsion Risk Mitigation & Demonstration,”
flexibility to enable fielding of high demand electric
which forms part of Project 2471 (Integrated Power
weapons, sensor systems and computing resources.
Systems [IPS]) within PE 0603573N (Advanced Surface
(Source: Department of Defense Fiscal Year (FY)
Machinery Systems), which is line 49 in the Navy’s
2022 Budget Estimates, Navy, Justification Book,
FY2022 research and development account.
Volume 2 of 5, Research, Development, Test &
Issues for Congress
Evaluation, Navy, May 2021, p. 479.)
Issues for Congress regarding the DDG(X) program include
Potential Procurement Quantities
the following:
The Navy has not specified the total number of DDG(X)s
that it wants to procure. Procuring 11 would provide one
whether the Navy has accurately identified the required
DDG(X) for each of the Navy’s 11 large aircraft carriers.
operational capabilities for the DDG(X) and accurately
estimated the ship’s
Procuring 22 would provide one-for-one replacements for
procurement cost;
the 22 CG-47s. Keeping the DDG(X) design in production
so as to additionally replace at least some of the Navy’s
the potential total procurement quantity and annual
older DDG-51s as those ships start to retire in the 2030s
procurement rate for the DDG(X) program;
could result in a larger total procurement quantity. These
numbers, as well as a long-range shipbuilding document
the number of builders to be used in building DDG(X)s;
released by the Navy on June 17, 2021, suggest a potential
DDG(X) annual procurement rate of one to two ships per
the adequacy of the Navy’s plan for maturing new
year.
technologies that are to be incorporated into the
DDG(X);
Potential Unit Procurement Cost
The first DDG(X) would be considerably more expensive to
the Navy’s plans for maintaining, modernizing, and
procure than follow-on DDG(X)s because its procurement
operating the 22 CG-47s over the remainder of their
cost would incorporate most or all of the detailed design
service lives; and
and nonrecurring engineering (DD/NRE) costs for the class.
(It is a traditional Navy budgeting practice for the
the Navy’s plans for transitioning from procurement of
procurement cost of the lead ship in a class to incorporate
DDG-51s to procurement of DDG(X)s, and the potential
impact of this transition on U.S. shipbuilders and
most or all of the DD/NRE costs for the class.)
supplier firms.
In constant FY2019 dollars, the Navy wants the first
Congressional Action for FY2022
DDG(X) to have a procurement cost of $3.5 billion to $4.0
The Navy’s proposed FY2022 budget was submitted to
billion, and for the 10th ship in the class to have a
procurement cost of $2.1 billion to $2.5 billion. An April
Congress on May 28, 2021.
2021 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report on a long-
range shipbuilding document released by the Navy on
Ronald O'Rourke, Specialist in Naval Affairs
December 9, 2020, estimates the average procurement cost
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Navy DDG(X) Next-Generation Destroyer Program: Background and Issues for Congress
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