INTEGRATED MISSION SOLUTIONS DD(X ... - Raytheon

Raytheon
Integrated Mission Solutions
DD(X) – Transforming Naval Technology
T
he ability of the United
States, as a maritime
nation, to project its
influence around the globe is
as critical to the freedom of
our allies as it is to our own.
Throughout the history of the United States
there have been distinct periods when the
investments in developing new ships for the
Navy have spawned technological advances
that have influenced subsequent ship design
efforts around the world for years to come.
One of the most famous examples comes
from the American Civil War. The advent of
the U.S.S. Monitor introduced a totally new
class of fully-armored, steam-powered,
screw propeller-driven warships. It has a
compact hull, low profile, unobstructed
decks, a small comparatively specialized
crew, and a revolving gun turret that could
be brought to bear on any naval or land
target regardless of the Monitor’s heading—while
also effectively protecting both
the guns and the gun crews.
Nothing like the Monitor ever existed
before, and, virtually overnight, it relegated
sail-driven, wooden ships-of-the-line with
their primitive broadside armament and
time-consuming gun-aiming maneuvers to
obsolescence. In today’s terminology, this
seminal class of naval vessels represented a
“transformational” design concept, signifying
a radical departure from the old ways—
a true revolution. And, its unqualified success
quickly and heavily influenced the
thinking of every major and minor naval
power around the world for decades to come.
Now, another transformational concept in
naval ship systems design, is rapidly taking
shape: DD(X), a new surface combat vessel
that promises to impact all new naval ship
designs well into the 21st century.
4 summer 2003
The DD(X) is one of the most complex ‘system of systems’ currently in development.
Versatility and Aggressiveness — The
Traditional Hallmark of Naval Destroyers
Since first introduced to the world’s navies
at the dawn of the twentieth century as
fast torpedo-carrying surface attack vessels,
destroyers have come to be recognized as
some of the most versatile and aggressive
surface combatants ever developed—
legendary “hunter-killers” of the seas.
Throughout their long history, destroyers
have continued to assume progressively
greater defensive and offensive roles, such as:
• Conducting anti-submarine, anti-mine
anti-shipping, anti-aircraft, and electronic
warfare;
• Supporting U.S. Marine and other
combat forces ashore with gunfire
and missiles in support of amphibious
assault and other combat missions;
• Screening and defending other ships
in the fleet, as well as convoys of
ships carrying vital troops, equipment
and material;
• Patrolling the high seas conducting
surveillance activities to keep them
safe in times of peace and of war;
and
• Performing humanitarian missions
such as search and rescue.
Although “DD” has long been the U.S.
Navy’s shorthand for “destroyer”, the new
DD(X) will be a vessel that far surpasses the
operational spectrum traditionally associated
with naval destroyers, even in their most
recent AEGIS incarnations.
With the advent of DD(X), the hereditary
versatility and aggressiveness of the destroyer
is destined to grow in startling ways that
the designers of the original torpedo boat
destroyers could never have envisaged a
century ago.
Four Key DD(X) Concepts to Understand
To better understand why DD(X) is so transformational,
it helps to view the ship in
terms of four broad concepts, described by
Michael Hoeffler, vice president of the
DD(X) Program at Raytheon Integrated
Defense Systems:
• The Human System “The ability to integrate
the sailor as a critical part of the
Integrated Warfare System is a revolution,”
says Cronin. “We ‘design in’ the
operators as part of our DD(X) command
center. We apply intensive automation.
We look at the total ship and all of the
work requirements to achieve a signifi-