The U.S. Navy is exercising an option for an additional DDG 51 guided-missile destroyer, as anticipated under the 2023 contract awarded to General Dynamics Bath Iron Works. That “fixed-price-incentive firm target” contract tabbed the Maine shipyard to build three DDG 51 Flight III vessels during FY2023-27, with options for three more under comparable terms.
A parallel contract from 2023 assigned construction of six DDG 51s to Huntington Ingalls Inc., with options for six more. There is no indication that those options have been exercised.
The U.S. Dept. of Defense initially did not state the value of the contract award, but it’s now estimated that each DDG 51 Flight III destroyer has an optimal value of $2.5 billion. The funding for the Navy to option the new destroyer is included in the FY 2024 and 2025 budge package approved in July.
According to the office of Maine Senator Susan Collins, the new destroyer will be named in honor of U.S. Marine Corps Corporal Kyle Carpenter, the youngest living recipient of Medal of Honor.
The Navy is intent on expanding and updating its fleet of surface ships and submarines, and its FY 2024-2025 budget request totaled $47.3 billion, for attack submarines, destroyers, amphibious ships, and support vessels.
Despite the funding, the USN’s expansion efforts are several years behind schedule, apparently due to lack of shipbuilding capacity as well as a shortage of skilled workers.
The Bath Iron Works shipyard currently has seven destroyers under construction.
The DDG 51 Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers are multi-mission surface combat ships capable of conducting anti-air warfare (AAW), anti-submarine warfare (ASW), and anti-surface warfare (ASuW). The Flight III configuration includes the AN/SPY-6(V)1 Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) system, which allows it to simultaneously perform AAW and BMD.
According to Bath Iron Works president Charles F. Krugh: “We are clawing back schedule so we can deliver more Bath-built ships to our Navy. I would also like to acknowledge and thank our Congressional delegation who added this ship to the Fiscal Year 2025 Defense Appropriations Bill.”
