The US Navy began to look for ways to deploy ships more quickly
The US Navy has taken up the challenge of modernizing its operational capabilities. One of the key tasks is to increase the speed of deployment of ships and formations of ships, which should give advantages to the American the fleet compared to the fleets of potential opponents.
Commander of the Naval Surface Forces, Vice Admiral Roy Kitchener, previously released a report, "Surface Warfare: A Competitive Advantage," outlining five key priorities for the development of the American surface fleet. In fact, we are talking about the main directions for further improving the combat capabilities of the US Navy.
One of the ideas expressed by Vice Admiral Kitchener is the specifics of the transfer of newly built ships to the sailors of the Navy. He proposes to abandon the regime of preparing the ship for operation that drags on for six to eight months after the new ship has left the shipyard.
The US Navy may experiment with the implementation of this proposal on one of its destroyers under construction to better understand what will be required to complete all construction and installation work. In addition, the US Navy is exploring the possibility of accelerating the pace of modernization of ships that are already in the fleet. As part of the upgrade, it is planned to equip the Arleigh Burke Flight IIA destroyers with new radars, combat systems and electronic warfare packages.
Initially, it was assumed that the modernization would take two years or more. But Vice Admiral Kitchener believes that the fleet cannot remain without destroyers for so long, as this will affect its combat capability. Therefore, all work within the framework of the modernization of ships must be carried out in a short time. The US Navy sent a request to the largest companies working in the field of shipbuilding, electronics and weapons, asking if it was possible to combine ship modernization work into modules that would allow work to be done at different times.
Kitchener also said in the report that the Navy will invest in the development of ground engineering facilities that will allow ships to be more quickly ready for testing and combat deployment.
As part of the announced program, it is planned to modernize the following ships of the US Navy surface fleet:
destroyers of the Zumwalt class (DDG 1000);
Arleigh Burke DDG 51 Flight III class destroyers in configuration;
Constellation-class frigates (FFG 62);
light landing ships;
medium unmanned surface vehicles;
San Antonio-class LPD 17 Flight II amphibious transport dock.
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