Navy Leads Industry Design Team for New DDGX Destroyer to Fight into 2060s

By Kris Osborn – President & Editor-In-Chief, Warrior Maven

(Washington D.C.) High-powered lasers to incinerate enemy drones, more deck-launched interceptor cells, larger, longer range and more lethal missiles and a breakthrough on-board power storage and distribution system are just a few of the technologies being planned for the Navy’s futuristic, next-generation Destroyer.

While largely conceptual at the moment, the Navy’s DDG X program has already made considerable progress with requirements, conceptual work and computer simulation such that some initial renderings and technology integration schemes are taking shape. Most recently, the Navy has brought two prominent shipbuilders into the process, HII and General Dynamics. These shipbuilders, both of which have in recent years-built destroyers, will contribute to the ongoing design work. They were brought in to support a Navy-led design team, according to comments made by Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday cited in USNI. The Navy is expected to take a leadership role with the ongoing design work and draw upon input from its industry partners

DDG X Destroyer Warship Program

“You’ve got lasers, larger arrays, an upgraded X band radar, maybe additional VLS (Vertical Launch Systems) cells, large missile launchers, and also potentially an integrated power and energy system versus just an integrated a power system,” Katie Connelly, the deputy program manager for the DDG X program office, told an audience earlier this year at the 2022 Surface Navy Association Symposium. Much progress on the ship has already been made, as the Chief of Naval Operations has approved an initial set of potential requirements and the service has drafted a preliminary Capabilities Development Document (CDD) for the ship.

Connelly emphasized that the developmental strategy will be “evolutionary” as opposed to “revolutionary,” meaning it will strategically focus on key items in an incremental, measured way so as to maximize benefit and ensure success. The ship will be architected to accommodate new technologies, weapons and sensors as they emerge, in part through the addition of and electrical propulsion and energy generation technology called the Integrated Power System. Developers are even planning a “Destroyer Payload Module,” or large block which could be used to greatly lengthen the ship and add new technologies.

“Destroyer payload module, we are designing this ship with the capability to in the future be increased in size with that block. So you would cut the ship and slide the block and to increase the size of the ship and allow for additional capability in the future,” Connelly said.

The initial focus, Connelly explained, will be on exploring a potential hull form or configuration, while moving to integrate, yet upgrade and advance many of the promising technologies now being built into the DDG 51 Flight III destroyers.

“We’re going to use the Flight III combat system elements with the new hull form, which will have increased swap (Size, Weight and Power), so you can accommodate different, larger and more power dense systems,” Connelly said.