Next-gen Burkes may push limit of DDG frame

The Navy’s next batch of workhorse destroyers will likely be larger, sport a different-looking superstructure and could carry a new set of weapons, according to a Navy official and congressional reports.

Service officials committed the Navy to a new variety of the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in appearances around Washington over February and March, even rolling out the term “Flight III” for a ship that will combine much of what sailors already know in today’s Flight I, II and IIA ships with advanced refinements that designers hope are ready in the next few years.

We ultimately have to go beyond today’s level of missile defense capability that’s in the [DDG] 51 class, which is why we have continued to move forward development of the air and missile defense radar technology,” the Navy’s top weapons buyer, Sean Stackley, said in a congressional hearing March 3.

Read more