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By ERIC TALMADGE 06/04/12 05:07 AM ET AP
SINGAPORE -- A super-stealthy warship that could underpin the U.S. Navy's China strategy will be able to sneak
up on coastlines virtually undetected and pound targets with electromagnetic "railguns" right out of a sci-fi movie.
But at more than $3 billion a pop, critics say the new DDG-1000 destroyer sucks away funds that could be better used to
bolster a thinly stretched conventional fleet.
<a href="http://s1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/?action=view&current=r-STEALTH-DESTROYER-large570.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/r-STEALTH-DESTROYER-large570.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
With the first of the new ships set to be delivered in 2014, the stealth destroyer is being heavily promoted by the Pentagon
as the most advanced destroyer in history – a silver bullet of stealth. It has been called a perfect fit for what Washington
now considers the most strategically important region in the world – Asia and the Pacific.
The DDG-1000 and other stealth destroyers of the Zumwalt class feature a wave-piercing hull that leaves almost no wake,
electric drive propulsion and advanced sonar and missiles. They are longer and heavier than existing destroyers – but will have
half the crew because of automated systems and appear to be little more than a small fishing boat on enemy radar.
<a href="http://s1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/?action=view&current=ddg1000-07.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/ddg1000-07.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Down the road, the ship is to be equipped with an electromagnetic railgun, which uses a magnetic field and electric current to
fire a projectile at several times the speed of sound.
But the destroyers' $3.1 billion price tag, which is about twice the cost of the current destroyers and balloons to $7 billion each
when research and development is added in, nearly sank it in Congress. Though the Navy originally wanted 32 of them, that
was cut to 24, then seven.
<a href="http://s1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/?action=view&current=frm00004-17.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/frm00004-17.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
SINGAPORE -- A super-stealthy warship that could underpin the U.S. Navy's China strategy will be able to sneak
up on coastlines virtually undetected and pound targets with electromagnetic "railguns" right out of a sci-fi movie.
But at more than $3 billion a pop, critics say the new DDG-1000 destroyer sucks away funds that could be better used to
bolster a thinly stretched conventional fleet.
<a href="http://s1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/?action=view&current=r-STEALTH-DESTROYER-large570.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/r-STEALTH-DESTROYER-large570.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
With the first of the new ships set to be delivered in 2014, the stealth destroyer is being heavily promoted by the Pentagon
as the most advanced destroyer in history – a silver bullet of stealth. It has been called a perfect fit for what Washington
now considers the most strategically important region in the world – Asia and the Pacific.
The DDG-1000 and other stealth destroyers of the Zumwalt class feature a wave-piercing hull that leaves almost no wake,
electric drive propulsion and advanced sonar and missiles. They are longer and heavier than existing destroyers – but will have
half the crew because of automated systems and appear to be little more than a small fishing boat on enemy radar.
<a href="http://s1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/?action=view&current=ddg1000-07.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/ddg1000-07.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Down the road, the ship is to be equipped with an electromagnetic railgun, which uses a magnetic field and electric current to
fire a projectile at several times the speed of sound.
But the destroyers' $3.1 billion price tag, which is about twice the cost of the current destroyers and balloons to $7 billion each
when research and development is added in, nearly sank it in Congress. Though the Navy originally wanted 32 of them, that
was cut to 24, then seven.
<a href="http://s1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/?action=view&current=frm00004-17.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/frm00004-17.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
