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Updated September 15, 2021
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
whether the Navy has accurately identified the required
hull design that incorporates platform flexibility
operational capabilities for the DDG(X) and accurately
and the space, weight, power and cooling (SWAP-
estimated the ship’s procurement cost;
C) to meet future combatant force capability/system
requirements that are not achievable without the
the potential total procurement quantity and annual
new hull design. The DDG(X) platform will have
procurement rate for the DDG(X) program;
the flexibility to rapidly and affordably upgrade to
future warfighting systems when they become
the number of builders to be used in building DDG(X)s;
available as well as have improved range and fuel
efficiency for increased operational flexibility and
the adequacy of the Navy’s plan for maturing new
technologies that are to be incorporated into the
decreased demand on the logistics force. DDG(X)
DDG(X);
will provide an Integrated Power System with
flexibility to enable fielding of high demand electric
the Navy’s plans for maintaining, modernizing, and
weapons, sensor systems and computing resources.
operating the 22 CG-47s over the remainder of their
(Source: Department of Defense Fiscal Year (FY)
service lives; and
2022 Budget Estimates, Navy, Justification Book,
Volume 2 of 5, Research, Development, Test &
the Navy’s plans for transitioning from procurement of
Evaluation, Navy, May 2021, p. 479.)
DDG-51s to procurement of DDG(X)s, and the potential
impact of this transition on U.S. shipbuilders and
Potential Procurement Quantities
supplier firms.
The Navy has not specified the total number of DDG(X)s
FY2022 Funding Request and
that it wants to procure. Procuring 11 would provide one
Congressional Action
DDG(X) for each of the Navy’s 11 large aircraft carriers.
The Navy’s proposed FY2022 budget requests
Procuring 22 would provide one-for-one replacements for
$121.8
the 22 CG-47s. Keeping the DDG(X) design in production
million in research and development funding for the
so as to additionally replace at least some of the Navy’s
program, including $79.7 million in Project 0411 (DDG[X]
older DDG-51s as those ships start to retire in the 2030s
Concept Development) within Program Element (PE)
could result in a larger total procurement quantity. These
0603564N (Ship Preliminary Design & Feasibility Studies),
numbers, as well as a long-range shipbuilding document
which is line 47 in the Navy’s FY2022 research and
development account, and $42.1 million for “
released by the Navy on June 17, 2021, suggest a potential
DDG(X)
DDG(X) annual procurement rate of one to two ships per
Power & Propulsion Risk Mitigation & Demonstration,”
year.
which forms part of Project 2471 (Integrated Power
Systems [IPS]) within PE 0603573N (Advanced Surface
Potential Unit Procurement Cost
Machinery Systems), which is line 49 in the Navy’s
The first DDG(X) would be considerably more expensive to
FY2022 research and development account.
procure than follow-on DDG(X)s because its procurement
The House Armed Services Committee’s report (H.Rept.
cost would incorporate most or all of the detailed design
and nonrecurring engineering (DD/NRE) costs for the class.
117-118 of September 10, 2021) on H.R. 4350 recommends
(It is a traditional Navy budgeting practice for the
approving these two funding requests. Section 215 of H.R.
procurement cost of the lead ship in a class to incorporate
4350 as reported directs the Navy to commence a land-
based test program for the DDG(X) engineering (i.e.,
most or all of the DD/NRE costs for the class.)
propulsion) plant before starting construction of the first
In constant FY2019 dollars, the Navy wants the first
DDG(X). H.Rept. 117-118 directs the Navy to submit a
DDG(X) to have a procurement cost of $3.5 billion to $4.0
report on the transition from DDG-51 procurement to
billion, and for the 10th ship in the class to have a
DDG(X) procurement (page 20), and directs the Navy to
procurement cost of $2.1 billion to $2.5 billion. An April
brief the committee on high-energy lasers, including a plan
2021 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report on a long-
for integrating lasers with more than 150kW of beam power
range shipbuilding document released by the Navy on
into the DDG(X) (page 53).
December 9, 2020, estimates the average procurement cost
of the DDG(X) at $2.9 billion in constant FY2021 dollars.
The House Appropriations Committee’s report (H.Rept.
By way of comparison, the current procurement cost of the
117-88 of July 15, 2021) on the FY2022 DOD
Flight III DDG-51 is about $2.0 billion.
Appropriations Act (H.R. 4432), recommended reducing
line 47 by $55.488 million for “DDG(X) design and
Issues for Congress
analysis excess to need,” and reducing line 49 by $19.050
Issues for Congress regarding the DDG(X) program include
million for “DDG(X) power and propulsion risk mitigation
and demonstration excess to need.” (Page 266)
the following:
Ronald O'Rourke, Specialist in Naval Affairs
IF11679
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Navy DDG(X) Next-Generation Destroyer Program: Background and Issues for Congress
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