spendergast: DDG-1000 Capabilities Fit Outdated Mission
It’s easy to forget that the original rationale for the DDG-1000 Zumwalt Class centered around naval gunfire support for troops ashore, as the ship’s estimated costs have risen and its missions have proliferated. Heavily armored US battleships with massive 16-inch (406 mm) guns once performed extremely well in this role, as their volkswagen-weight shells gave enemies pause. USS Iowa was brought back into service during the Reagan era, but she was decommissioned again in 1990. That left America with a floating museum in Los Angeles, and a gap in its options.
Feb 21/14: BAE Systems Land and Armaments L.P., Minneapolis, MN, is being awarded a $19.2 million contract modification. They’ll provide mounts for the Advanced Gun System’s magazine upper pallet hoist, a gun cooling assembly, a centerline hoist, and engineering services.
Jan 28/14: DOT&E Testing Report. The Pentagon releases the FY 2013 Annual Report
from its Office of the Director, Operational Test & Evaluation (DOT&E). FY 2013 live fire tactical guided flight and lethality testing is still being analyzed, and 1 more guided flight test is expected in FY 2014, but the preliminary assessment is that the LRLAP is lethal against
expected realistic targets. Meanwhile, AGS counter-battery capability against onshore artillery has been pushed into the ship’s Post-Shakedown Availability after delivery.
Early LRLAP test failures were accelerometer failures, but 14 tests have passed without event since the Navy tightened quality screening requirements for that part. The caveat? Even if LRLAP goes 15/15, there won’t be enough firings to offer enough statistical certainty of a fix before operational testing begins.
Surface Forces: AGS, Volcano, Excalibur And The Future Of Naval Gunfire
June 11, 2014: The U.S. Navy, having completed successful testing of its new 155mm AGS (Advanced Gun System) in 2013 has now asked defense firms to provide similar GPS guided shells for navy 127mm (5 inch) guns. The navy made it clear that there was no money for more development, but given the number of GPS guided shell systems available out there for 155mm guns (mostly army artillery) and 120mm mortars, someone probably has something for navy 127mm guns that can be bought “off the shelf” and immediately be put to use. This would make naval gun fire against land targets much more effective and get more out of the limited ammunition supply each ship carries. Even the cost of these smart shells (over $50,000 each) does not diminish the advantages.
The 155mm AGS is only used on the new DDG 1000 ("Zumwalt") destroyers and only three of these are being built and each has only two 155mm AGS. It may be decades before the navy can afford to develop and buy a new surface warship that can handle the larger and heavier 155mm gun. Only a few DDG 1000s are being built because costs grew too large for the navy to afford any more. So for the next decade or so all the navy can afford is some upgrades on its 62 Burke class destroyers, each
armed with one 127mm gun. Buying GPS guided shells for the existing 127mm guns on these destroyers would be such an affordable upgrade.
The AGS used the LRLAP (Long Range Land Attack Projectile) GPS guided shell, which during tests hit land targets 83 kilometers distant. It was only in 2011 that LRLAP, after six years of development, had its first successful test firing. The AGS was designed to fire GPS guided shells up to 190 kilometers. That GPS guidance system enables the shells to land inside a 50 meter (155 foot) circle at that extreme range. The AGS shells carry 11 kg (24 pounds) of explosives. The AGS uses a water cooled barrel, so that it can fire ten rounds a minute for extended periods. Each AGS on
the DDG 1000 carries 335 rounds of ammo, which is loaded and fired automatically. The AGS shell was originally supposed to enter service in 2015. That has now been delayed to 2018.
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