2023-08-09 04:48:09
The United States spends a good part of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) year after year to maintain or improve its position as a military power. In the arms race, the US Navy has presented numerous innovations and investments, showing drones, warships, aircraft carriers or tanks to face other powers such as Russia, China or North Korea. One of its latest contributions has been the Zumwalt-class destroyer, conceived as the future of the United States and considered the most advanced ship in the world, although for many it has been a major failure.
The Zumwalt was designed as a stealth ship destined to mark a before and after in naval history, and was one of the concepts included in the SC21 research and development program for new warships. At 182 meters long and 24 meters wide, she reaches a maximum speed of 30 knots and can carry up to 158 crew members. She also has AN/SPY-3 multifunction radar and hemispherical volume surveillance radar, which can track high-speed aircraft and missiles.
The USS Zumwalt, the great bet of the United States Navy that does not quite fit in despite its high technology
40% larger than the Arleigh Burke, and its radar cross section was comparable to that of a fishing vessel. Washington was puffing its chest by announcing this “stealth-capable multipurpose guided missile destroyer,” designed for stealth missions and capable of engaging in anti-aircraft defense tasks, attacking surface-level targets, and providing naval support. Measures were implemented to further reduce the visibility of the Zumwalt, installing a cover that made the ship more difficult to detect.
“Zumwalt is today a technical marvel. When deployed, our nation will have a multi-mission destroyer with the stealth and combat power to take on the most challenging missions,” Capt. James A. Kirk, First Commanding Officer, said in a press release highlighting the qualities of the ship. The United States Navy claimed that its propulsion system generates 78 megawatts of power, almost what a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier generates.
Despite its advanced technology, and an investment of some 4.4 billion dollars, the total cost of the program has still suffered numerous cost overruns. An ambitious bet that, however, remained big, and that is that the Navy has withdrawn its support for the Zumwalt program and requested to stop the delivery of the ship, since to date, only three of the thirty-two originally planned have been delivered. . However, in February, the US Navy stated that it plans to conduct a test of hypersonic missiles fired from the destroyer in December 2025. The requirements for the integrated combat system used to launch the Zumwalt-class hypersonic will inform how the Navy places and integrates hypersonic weapons into Virginia-class attack submarines, Capt. Tyson Young of the program executive office for the Zumwalt Integrated Combat System said at the American Society of Marine Corps’ annual Combat Systems Symposium. Naval Engineers, as reported by News.USNI.org.
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