HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding [HII] delivered the first Arleigh Burke-class Flight III guided-missile destroyer, the future USS
Jack H. Lucas (DDG-125), to the Navy on June 27, the company said Tuesday.
As the first Flight III variant, DDG-125 features various modifications largely designed to allow it to field the RTX [RTX] AN/SPY-6(V)1 Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) with its requisite side, power, and cooling constraints. The ship also features the Aegis Baseline 10 combat system.
RTX is the new name for the former Raytheon Technologies.
The AMDR consists of four radar arrays that measure 14 by 14 feet, a power system, cooler and back-end processors. The company argued the new radar is 30 times more sensitive than the version on the current Aegis destroyers.
“Delivering the first Flight III ship reflects the relentless efforts of our shipbuilders and those of our Navy and supplier partners. We are committed to maintaining a consistent and resilient destroyer production team in order to be ready to support the Navy and our country,” Kari Wilkinson, president of Ingalls Shipbuilding, said in a statement.
Speaking to reporters at a media roundtable on the sidelines of the annual Modern Day Marine conference, an Ingalls official explained the current timeline for DDG-125.
George Nungesser, vice president of program management for Ingalls Shipbuilding, said HII has undergone four sea trials for DDG-125 already “to demonstrate the requirements of the ship and the mission capability of the ship” that led to Tuesday’s official delivery.
He underscored the Navy customer writes up trial cards that the builder has to close out and fix or solve following trials. Nungesser said the trial card closeout occurs both before and after delivery. For now, DDG-125 will stay at Ingalls’ shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss.
DDG-125 previously completed builder’s trials last December (Defense Daily, Dec. 19, 2022) after it was christened the previous March (Defense Daily, March 25 2022).
“The ship will actually stay here, as required if there’s a requirement, for about 120 days after we deliver a ship,” he said.
Nungesser said unlike aircraft carriers and submarines, the crew of DDG-125 will not move aboard until after delivery, so that happens in “a couple more weeks.”
Then, while the crew gets used to the ship and performs assessments and certifications, HII has time to finish the rest of the trial card work before DDG-125 is set to sail away in around late October.
“At that point, the warranty period also kicks in. I have about a one-year warranty period where we will continue to support the ship. We have shipbuilders that… follow the ship all over the world and make sure that whatever support they need, they get,” Nungesser added.