IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 1, 2001
(703)697-5737(public/industry)
NAVY ANNOUNCES DD(X) PROGRAM
The Navy announced today that it will issue a revised Request
for Proposal (RFP) for the Future Surface Combatant Program.
Formerly known as DD 21, the program will now be called "DD(X)"
to more accurately reflect the program purpose, which is to
produce a family of advanced technology surface combatants, not
a single ship class.
Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz approved the revised
program focus and reaffirmed the Department's support for the
Future Surface Combatant Program.
"President Bush has made transformation of the Department of
Defense a high priority. Through DD(X), the Navy has charted a
course to transformation that will provide capability across the
full spectrum of naval warfare. The Navy's strategy supports
assured access to littoral regions and also develops the
capability to defeat the air and missile defense threats the
nation's naval forces will face in the future."
Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and
Logistics E. C. "Pete" Aldridge stated that "the new program
focus and new RFP will enable the Navy to fully leverage the
great work already done by the two industry teams, continue risk
mitigation measures and permit appropriate spiral development of
technology and engineering to support a range of future surface
ships to meet our Nation's maritime requirements well into the
21st Century," Aldridge said. "The DD(X) program will be the
technology driver for the surface fleet of the future."
"With the approval of this strategy, the Navy has defined its
surface combatant roadmap for the future in a manner which
ensures all maritime missions can be accomplished. Through
DD(X), we are taking a significant step toward providing
improved combat capability for our Sailors and Marines," said
Navy Secretary Gordon England.
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vern Clark said the DD(X) program
reflects an awareness that effectively defeating future threats,
while accomplishing naval missions, will require a range of
naval capabilities and different surface platforms.
"One size fits all will not work on the future battlefield,"
Clark said. "We must continue to exploit the robust R&D effort
made on DD 21 even as we focus our research and technology
funding of other approaches such as the Littoral Combat Ship
concept."
The DD(X) program will provide a baseline for spiral development
of the DD(X) and the future cruiser or "CG(X)" with emphasis on
common hullform and technology development. The Navy will use
the advanced technology and networking capabilities from DD(X)
and CG(X) in the development of the Littoral Combat Ship with
the objective being a survivable, capable near-land platform to
deal with threats of the 21st century. The intent is to
innovatively combine the transformational technologies developed
in the DD(X) program with the many ongoing R&D efforts involving
mission focused surface ships to produce a state-of-the art
surface combatant to defeat adversary attempts to deny access
for US forces.
The revision of the program is based on the Navy's continued
careful examination of DD21 as it reached the source selection
milestone this past spring. At that time, the Navy delayed the
down-select decision between the two competing DD21 teams in
order to take advantage of ongoing reviews being conducted in
the Department of Defense, including the Quadrennial Defense
Review. The Navy expects to issue the revised RFP within the
next few weeks, and to down-select a single industry team to be
the design agent and technology developer this Spring. |
