The demand for Aegis-equipped cruisers and destroyers for carrying out ballistic missile defense (BMD) could put pressure on those ships for performing other missions, such as strike, around the world, according to a report last week by the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
“Some observers are concerned that demands for the Aegis ships for conducting BMD operations could strain the Navy’s ability to provide regional military commanders with Aegis ships for performing non-BMD missions in various locations around the world,” the report said.
The Navy has slowed down the rate at which it plans to upgrade the Aegis combat systems on Arleigh Burke-class (DDG-51) destroyers and Ticonderoga-class (CG-47) cruisers to a BMD capability, largely by planning to retire seven of the latter earlier than planned. Plans to base four DDG-51s in Rota, Spain, beginning in fiscal 2014 could help alleviate the demand on BMD ships by easing on-station deployments, the report said.
On the other hand, the CRS report noted a potential problem could lie in stretching the need on the ships to carry out a range of missions unrelated to BMD. Those, among other things, include deterrence, counter piracy and counter terrorism, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), anti-air and air-surface warfare, and strike warfare and anti-submarine warfare, the report said.
“Locations for performing BMD operations might not be good for performing non-BMD operations, and vice versa,” the report said.
Congressional lawmakers have criticized the Navy’s plan for the early retirement of the cruisers.
The Navy’s fleet of cruisers and destroyers carry either the Aegis Combat System for theater warfare or the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system, but the service is moving toward fusing those two capabilities with increased data processing power based on the new multi-mission signal processor (MMSP).
Work began in April to install the MMSP on the USS Chancellorsville (CG-62), with modernization to begin later this year on USS John Paul Jones (DDG-53) and the USS Normandy (CG-60). The John Finn (DDG-113) will be the first ship to come out of production with the new, combined capability.