DDX gets go-ahead

Officials have signed off on a plan for the US Navy to begin detailed design and procurement for materials to build eight new generation destroyers. Kenneth Kreig, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, signed the document needed to begin production of the Navy’s futuristic surface combatant on Wednesday.

The destroyers, designated the DD(X), once developed, would allow the USN to strike miles inland or to hit isolated targets in populated coastal areas with precision guided weapons, and offer ground support to troops from the safety of the sea. The design of the ship is highly automated, with the need for only a small crew.

Northrop Grumman Ship Systems and General Dynamics’ Bath Iron Works in Maine – the nation’s two major builders of war ships – partnered in the design phase of the DD(X), which would replace the Navy’s ageing fleet of destroyers. It could be years before construction on the first ship is completed, with Bath Iron Works and Northrop Grumman each building one of the first two. There is no set plan for who will be awarded contracts on the remaining six ships.