Changing Course on Navy Shipbuilding: Questions Congress Should Ask Before Funding

For more than a decade, the U.S. Navy has invested significant time and resources in designing a multipur­pose destroyer, the DDG-1000 Zumwalt, to provide superior naval surface fire support, area anti-air war­fare, and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) in the littorals.

However, during testimony on July 31, 2008, Navy leaders rescinded their support for the President's fiscal year (FY) 2009 budget request for a third DDG-1000 and advocated "truncating" the program.

Navy officials insisted that the Zumwalt was no longer the best major surface combatant for the Navy due to a shifting security environment and a host of emerging weapons capabilities.

Instead of procuring seven DDG-1000s, the Navy now seeks to purchase only three and to procure at least eight additional, upgraded DDG-51 Arleigh Burke destroyers.

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