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| Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen (Image: Flickr User - Naval Surface Warriors) |
By: Valerie Insinna
WASHINGTON — The head of the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer program is anticipating increased demand for the ship as a result of the Navy’s new 355-vessel shipbuilding goal, and growing production from two to three ships a year is within the realm of possibility, he said Wednesday.
“As a program, we used to routinely build three ships a year. Right now, we’re budgeted at two ships per year,” said Capt. Casey Moton during a briefing at the Surface Navy Association conference in Arlington, Virginia. “So if you ask Capt. Moton if the DDG-51 community is capable of increasing the program to three ships a year, it’s pretty hard for me to stand here with that chart and then tell you no. I’m confident that we could do it.”
The Navy in December released a new fleet assessment plan that boosted its shipbuilding goal from 308 to a whopping 355 vessels—even more than had been proposed by President-elect Donald Trump during his campaign. The service recommended growing its fleet of large surface combatants, consisting of cruisers and destroyers, from 88 to 104 ships.
With the Zumwalt-class destroyer program cancelled after three ships and cruiser production already finished, it’s quite likely that Arleigh Burke-class destroyers could make up that 16-ship increase.
Moton acknowledged that much still needs to be done before he, as the program manager, would need to take action. For instance, the Navy would need to submit a budget that proposes additional ships, and any proposed increase would need to go through the congressional appropriations process.
But when all is said and done, “there may be an increased demand signal for DDG-51s, so we are honestly doing our due diligence looking at that. I would not be doing my job if I wasn’t,” he said.
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