Progress of the DD(X) Destroyer Program

The Navy is developing a new destroyer, the DD(X), to serve as a next-generation multimission surface combatant ship. It will provide advanced land attack capability to support forces ashore and contribute to military dominance in shallow coastal water environments. To reduce program risk and demonstrate the ship's 12 technologies, the Navy is building 10 engineering development models that represent the ship's most critical subsystems. This approach is intended to improve the assessment of these key subsystems by designing, developing, and testing working models early in the process. In September 2004, we reported that while the engineering development model process could be beneficial, the program's schedule does not allow enough time to acquire appropriate levels of knowledge before key decisions are made. We also reported that some of the engineering development models were progressing according to plan, but others faced significant technical challenges. This letter provides an update on the progress of DD(X) subsystems, as demonstrated by recent tests and design reviews of the engineering development models. Our review concentrated on five of the ten engineering development models. These five development models were chosen because of their importance to the overall ship design, congressional interest in specific models, or the occurrence of recent test events. We provide more limited information on the remaining five development models.