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The DDG-1000
USA Frightens China With Super Destroyer ~ ASIAN DEFENSE

USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000)
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SINGAPORE (AP) — A super-stealthy warship that could underpin the U.S. navy's China strategy will be able to sneak up on coastlines virtually undetected and pound targets with electromagnetic "railguns" right out of a sci-fi movie.

But at more than $3 billion a pop, critics say the new DDG-1000 destroyer sucks away funds that could be better used to bolster a thinly stretched conventional fleet. One outspoken admiral in China has scoffed that all it would take to sink the high-tech American ship is an armada of explosive-laden fishing boats.

With the first of the new ships set to be delivered in 2014, the stealth destroyer is being heavily promoted by the Pentagon as the most advanced destroyer in history — a silver bullet of stealth. It has been called a perfect fit for what Washington now considers the most strategically important region in the world — Asia and the Pacific.

Though it could come in handy elsewhere, like in the Gulf region, its ability to carry out missions both on the high seas and in shallows closer to shore is especially important in Asia because of the region's many island nations and China's long Pacific coast.

"With its stealth, incredibly capable sonar system, strike capability and lower manning requirements — this is our future," Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations, said in April after visiting the shipyard in Maine where they are being built.

On a visit to a major regional security conference in Singapore that ended Sunday, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the Navy will be deploying 60 percent of its fleet worldwide to the Pacific by 2020, and though he didn't cite the stealth destroyers he said new high-tech ships will be a big part of its shift.

The DDG-1000 and other stealth destroyers of the Zumwalt class feature a wave-piercing hull that leaves almost no wake, electric drive propulsion and advanced sonar and missiles. They are longer and heavier than existing destroyers — but will have half the crew because of automated systems and appear to be little more than a small fishing boat on enemy radar.

Down the road, the ship is to be equipped with an electromagnetic railgun, which uses a magnetic field and electric current to fire a projectile at several times the speed of sound.

But cost overruns and technical delays have left many defense experts wondering if the whole endeavor was too focused on futuristic technologies for its own good.

They point to the problem-ridden F-22 stealth jet fighter, which was hailed as the most advanced fighter ever built but was cut short because of prohibitive costs. Its successor, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, has swelled up into the most expensive procurement program in Defense Department history.

"Whether the Navy can afford to buy many DDG-1000s must be balanced against the need for over 300 surface ships to fulfill the various missions that confront it," said Dean Cheng, a China expert with the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research institute in Washington. "Buying hyperexpensive ships hurts that ability, but buying ships that can't do the job, or worse can't survive in the face of the enemy, is even more irresponsible."

The Navy says it's money well spent. The rise of China has been cited as the best reason for keeping the revolutionary ship afloat, although the specifics of where it will be deployed have yet to be announced. Navy officials also say the technologies developed for the ship will inevitably be used in other vessels in the decades ahead.

But the destroyers' $3.1 billion price tag, which is about twice the cost of the current destroyers and balloons to $7 billion each when research and development is added in, nearly sank it in Congress. Though the Navy originally wanted 32 of them, that was cut to 24, then seven.

Now, just three are in the works.

"Costs spiraled — surprise, surprise — and the program basically fell in on itself," said Richard Bitzinger, a security expert at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University. "The DDG-1000 was a nice idea for a new modernistic surface combatant, but it contained too many unproven, disruptive technologies."

The U.S. Defense Department is concerned that China is modernizing its navy with a near-term goal of stopping or delaying U.S. intervention in conflicts over disputed territory in the South China Sea or involving Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province.

China is now working on building up a credible aircraft carrier capability and developing missiles and submarines that could deny American ships access to crucial sea lanes.

The U.S. has a big advantage on the high seas, but improvements in China's navy could make it harder for U.S. ships to fight in shallower waters, called littorals. The stealth destroyers are designed to do both. In the meantime, the Navy will begin deploying smaller Littoral Combat Ships to Singapore later this year.

Officially, China has been quiet on the possible addition of the destroyers to Asian waters.

But Rear Adm. Zhang Zhaozhong, an outspoken commentator affiliated with China's National Defense University, scoffed at the hype surrounding the ship, saying that despite its high-tech design it could be overwhelmed by a swarm of fishing boats laden with explosives. If enough boats were mobilized some could get through to blow a hole in its hull, he said.

"It would be a goner," he said recently on state broadcaster CCTV's military channel.

US Navy hopes stealth ship answers a rising China - Yahoo! News
 
Armada of explosive loaded fishing boats...:rofl: Like their defense can't handle it....
 
The Zumwalt Class Destroyer looks very promising and although expensive has superior characteristics and capabilities.
 
Al Riyadh (F3000S Sawari II) Class, Saudi Arabia

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The frigate's stealth design is based on the La Fayette class frigate in service with the French Navy.

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The frigate is armed with eight Exocet MM40 Block II surface-to-surface missiles. The anti-ship missile has a range of 70km.

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Stealth features have been included in the design to reduce the radar cross section and infrared, acoustic and electromagnetic signatures.

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The ship is built to carry two eight-cell Sylver vertical launch systems for the Aster 15 surface-to-air missile, which has a range up to 30km.
 
Guys, i just like to ask one question. what website did you get the warship designs from? thanks in advance. i'm doing a report about the development of vessels. so it would greatly help me if i can get a copy with high resolution of the ship designs / schematics...
 
so many sites --- hahaha there is no single source -- however you can google image search for a better resolution by posting the link of that particular image in google search
 
Lockheed Martin Unveils Its Multi-Mission Combatant for Navies Worldwide

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Industry team continues on-time delivery of Freedom-variant Littoral Combat Ships to U.S. Navy

15:05 GMT, October 23, 2012 PARIS | With two Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) currently in the U.S. Navy fleet, two more in production and two others under contract, Lockheed Martin is leveraging experience gained through the LCS program to offer a Multi-Mission Combatant for navies worldwide.

The Multi-Mission Combatant (see Lockheed Martin · Multi-Mission Combatant) is an agile, modular vessel capable of speeds in excess of 40 knots. It provides the power of a larger platform with a smaller crew, similar to the core 40 sailors the U.S. Navy uses on its version of the ship. As a next generation surface combat warship for international navies, the ships can deliver maximum firepower to meet current and future operational requirements with lengths ranging from 85 to 118 meters and displacement ranging from 1,800 to 3,500 tons.

"The resurgence of piracy, and threats to open trade and commerce, along with the need for nations to protect sovereign shorelines, requires a ship class capable of multitasking without compromising mission effectiveness in complex security environments," said Joe North, vice president of Littoral Ship Systems at Lockheed Martin's Mission Systems & Sensors business. "Our proven multi-mission design offers a formidable combatant with less cost, less risk and lower manning requirements, resulting in a ship that can be efficiently and affordably adapted for a variety of combat and humanitarian missions."

The ship's design is intended to be adapted for a variety of missions, including anti-air, mine countermeasures, anti-surface, anti-submarine and electronic warfare, with inherent capability for supporting counterterrorism activities, anti-piracy missions, special operations missions, maritime interdiction and humanitarian relief operations.

By leveraging the U.S. Navy's latest technologies, international navies can benefit from the ship's interoperable capabilities with systems like the common radio room and platforms such as Lockheed Martin's MH-60R helicopters and Remote Multi-Mission Vehicles.

The Lockheed Martin-led industry team is building the Freedom-variants for the U.S. Navy on schedule and on budget. USS Freedom (LCS 1), the U.S. Navy's first LCS, will deploy to Singapore in 2013. USS Fort Worth (LCS 3) was commissioned in September and is now homeported in San Diego. The fifth and seventh ships - Milwaukee (LCS 5) and Detroit (LCS 7) - are under construction. Earlier this year, the Navy funded Little Rock (LCS 9) and Sioux City (LCS 11). Follow-on options call for six more ships by 2015.

defence.professionals | defpro.com
 
TAIPEI — Taiwan plans to buy two warships from the U.S. as part of an effort to modernize its naval force amid a perceived military threat from China, Defence Minister Kao Hua-chu said Nov. 5.

The two Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates, now serving in the U.S. Navy, will be delivered to Taiwan by 2015, Kao said while answering questions in parliament.

“The Defence Ministry has decided to take the two Perry-class frigates. It is a good bargain,” Kao added, according to a statement released by Lin Yu-fang, the legislator who raised the question.

The two warships, estimated to cost a total of about 7 billion Taiwanese dollars ($240 million), will replace two of eight aging Knox-class frigates that Taiwan acquired in the early 1990s, Kao said.

Beijing put its first aircraft carrier into service in September amid escalating tensions over Tokyo-controlled islands in the East China Sea, which Taiwan also claims.

Ties between Taiwan and its former rival China have improved markedly since Ma Ying-jeou of the China-friendly Kuomintang party became president in 2008 on a platform of ramping up trade and tourism links. Ma was re-elected in January for a second four-year term. Despite the warmer relations, China still claims sovereignty over Taiwan, which has governed itself since 1949, and has vowed to get it back — by force if necessary — even though the island has ruled itself for more than 60 years.
 
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