Chitchat USA's Expensive Military Toys Breakdown Again!

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Most expensive destroyer in US Navy’s history breaks down in the Panama Canal
Associated Press

The most expensive destroyer ever built for the US Navy suffered an engineering problem in the Panama Canal and had to be towed to port.

US Third Fleet spokesman Commander Ryan Perry said a vice-admiral directed the USS Zumwalt to remain at ex-Naval Station Rodman in Panama to address the issues, which arose on Monday. The ship was built at Bath Iron Works in Maine and is on its way to San Diego.

“The schedule for the ship will remain flexible to enable testing and evaluation in order to ensure the ship’s safe transit to her new home port in San Diego,” Perry said in a statement.

USNI News, a publication of the US Naval Institute, reported on its website that the ship was in the canal when it lost propulsion. Crew also saw water intrusion in bearings that connect electrical motors to drive shafts, the website reported. [The guided-missile destroyer USS Zumwalt on its way into port in Jacksonville, Florida, on October 25. Photo: AP]

The guided-missile destroyer USS Zumwalt on its way into port in Jacksonville, Florida, on October 25. Photo: AP

USNI News also reported that the Zumwalt suffered minor cosmetic damage. The ship had been scheduled to arrive in San Diego by the end of the year to start the activation of its weapon system, the website reported.

The 610-foot-long warship has an angular shape to minimize its radar signature and is regarded as the most technologically sophisticated destroyer ever built for the Navy. One of its signature features is a new gun system that fires rocket-powered shells up to 100km.

The Zumwalt cost more than US$4.4 billion and was commissioned last month in Maryland. It also suffered a leak in its propulsion system before it was commissioned. The leak required the ship to remain at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia longer than expected for repairs.

The ship is part of the first new class of warship built at Bath Iron Works in more than 25 years.

The second Zumwalt-class destroyer, which also cost more than US$4.4 billion, was christened in a June ceremony during which US Representative Bruce Poliquin called it an “extraordinary machine of peace and security.” The third ship is expected to cost a bit less than US$3.7 billion.

A spokeswoman for Bath Iron Works said the shipyard was not planning to comment on the breakdown and deferred to the Navy.

 

[nkfnkfnkf]

This junk has guns that uses only ammo which costs $800000 per shot, which Bankrupted US Congress can not finance. Which render it a junk.



http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/navy-ships/a23738/uss-zumwalt-ammo-too-expensive/

The USS Zumwalt Can't Fire Its Guns Because the Ammo Is Too Expensive
At $800,000 a round, the ammunition is simply to expensive for the Navy to afford.

By Kyle Mizokami
Nov 7, 2016
7.8k
Just three weeks after commissioning the USS Zumwalt, the U.S. Navy has admitted it is canceling ammunition specially developed for the ship's high-tech gun systems because the rounds are too expensive. The guns, tailor made for the destroyer, will be unable to fire until the Navy chooses a cheaper replacement round.

The Zumwalt-class destroyers were conceived in the late 1990s as the first of a new generation of stealthy warships. The radar signature of the 610 foot long warship is that of a 50-foot fishing boat, making the Zumwalts great for getting in close to an enemy coastline and then using the 155-millimeter Advanced Gun Systems mounted on the front of the hull. The guns were designed to fire the advanced Long Range Land Attack Projectile, a GPS guided shell with a range of 60 miles.

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The result would have been a destroyer that could rain shells down on enemy targets incredible accuracy, clearing a path for U.S. Marines as they advance inland. Alternately, they could strike targets such as terrorist training camps, military bases, and other static targets. The two Advanced Gun System howitzers are fed by a magazine containing 600 rounds of ammunition, making it capable destroying hundreds of targets at a rate of up to ten per minute.

Here's how the Advanced Gun System was supposed to work.


Now the U.S. Navy is admitting that the LRLAP round is too expensive to actually purchase, leaving the nearly $4 billion dollar destroyer's guns high and dry.

According to Defense News, the LRLAP round costs $800,000—or more—each, making the rounds prohibitively expensive. The Navy blames the rise in cost on the fact that the Zumwalt class went from a planned 32 ships to just 3, drastically cutting the number of LRLAP rounds it was going to purchase.

A May report by US Naval Institute News estimated each LRLAP round to cost between $400,000 to $700,000. For context, the smaller Mk. 45 5-inch gun, standard on Navy destroyers and cruisers, fires an unguided round with a range of 21 miles. Each round costs between $1,600 and $2,200.

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The LRLAP round was developed by Lockheed Martin. In 2001, the director of Lockheed's guided projectiles division claimed the LRLAP would cost "less than $50,000 each." Even factoring in inflation, the rounds have ended up costing nearly twelve times as much.

According to Defense News, the U.S. Navy is considering alternatives to LRLAP. One is the Excalibur GPS-guided artillery round. First developed for Army howitzers, contractor BAE Systems has come up with a naval version that can hit targets out to 26 miles. Excalibur costs about $68,000 each—which coincidentally is the same as Lockheed Martin's 2001 estimate for the LRLAP, adjusted for inflation.

Another option is to get rid of the Advanced Gun System entirely and go with railguns. The Navy has been planning to build the third Zumwalt-class destroyer, USS Lyndon B. Johnson, with railguns—provided the technology was mature enough. It may just be worthwhile to send the first ship back to the shipyard to be refitted with railguns, and delay the second ship so it can be fitted with railguns from the get-go.

RELATED STORY

The Zumwalt Is Here, Now What About the Railgun?
A third option would be to get rid of the guns and devote their space to missiles. The Zumwalt-class was developed during a period when the U.S. Navy didn't face the prospect of fighting other navies on the high seas. In a search to remain relevant, the Navy developed the Advanced Gun System, which has zero capability to target other ships. In the nearly two decades since the Zumwalt class was proposed, the Chinese and Russian Navies have undergone a period of expansion, and their respective governments have grown more aggressive.


The Zumwalt-class destroyers have only 80 vertical launch missile silos, the least of any U.S. Navy destroyer or cruiser class. Under the missiles-only alternative, the Zumwalts could swap both guns for even more silos. These silos could house SM-6 long range anti-air missiles, Evolved Sea Sparrow short range anti-air missiles, Tomahawk cruise missiles, and the new Long Range Anti-Ship Missile. Replacing the AGS with a field of silos could give the Zumwalts up to 200 missile spaces, more than any other ship in the Western world.

According to USNI News, the U.S. Navy wouldn't talk about LRLAP costs as late as last May. The Navy has known it wasn't getting 32 Zumwalt-class destroyers since 2008—the better part of a decade. Why it has taken this long to announce it would not be buying ammunition for a $22.5 billion dollar weapon system—which was specifically developed to use that ammunition—is a mystery.

 

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https://www.rt.com/usa/367866-uss-zumwalt-stealth-break-down/

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Not again! US Navy ‘stealth’ destroyer towed into port after another breakdown (VIDEO)
Published time: 23 Nov, 2016 00:38
Edited time: 23 Nov, 2016 14:37
DDG 1000, the first of the U.S. Navy's Zumwalt Class of multi-mission guided missile destroyers. © Joel Page
DDG 1000, the first of the U.S. Navy's Zumwalt Class of multi-mission guided missile destroyers. © Joel Page / Reuters
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Built at a cost of more than $4 billion, the high-tech USS Zumwalt only made it to the Panama Canal while on its first journey to its home port of San Diego. A malfunction left the warship in need of tugboats so that it could reach the closest port, where it remains under maintenance.
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The guided-missile destroyer USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) © PO2 Timothy Schumaker / US NavyUS Navy to cancel newest warship ammunition costing $800,000 per round - report
Passing southbound through the Panama Canal on Monday evening, the USS Zumwalt crew discovered water seeping into two of the four bearings connecting the port and starboard Advanced Induction Motors, or AIMs, to the drive shafts, according to US Naval Institute News citing a defense official.

The AIMs are part of what makes the Zumwalt the most high-tech, and most expensive, destroyer in the US Navy’s history. They generate up to 78 megawatts, allowing the 610-foot, 15,000-ton ship’s propulsion to rely entirely on electrical power.

However, Zumwalt was at the mercy of tugboats Monday night. They towed the ship to a former US naval station in Panama, where it is still being worked on. The problem may not be fixed for another 10 days, a defense official told USNI.

The unusually angular warship, shaped to evade radar detection, endured “minor cosmetic damage” when it collided with canal walls, the Portland Press Herald reported. It was on its way to San Diego, where it would join the US 3rd Fleet and be ready for action in 2018 after some weapons systems are installed.

Third Fleet spokesman, Commander Ryan Perry, issued a statement late Monday, Defense News reported.

“Vice Adm. Nora Tyson, commander, US Third Fleet, has directed USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) to remain at ex-Naval Station Rodman in Panama to address engineering issues that occurred while transiting the Panama Canal,” the statement read. “The timeline for repairs is being determined now, in direct coordination with Naval Sea Systems and Naval Surface Forces. The schedule for the ship will remain flexible to enable testing and evaluation in order to ensure the ship's safe transit to her new homeport in San Diego.”


READ MORE: Captain Kirk takes delivery of US Navy’s futuristic stealth destroyer

This is the second major break down for the Zumwalt. In late September, just two weeks after leaving Bath, Maine, where it was constructed, it sprung a leak in its auxiliary motor drive oil system, Popular Mechanics reported.

Two other “stealth” destroyer ships in Zumwalt’s class are currently under construction.