The Navy has picked the initial four Arleigh Burke-class Flight IIA destroyers to be upgraded in the Mod 2.0 effort, which upgrades sensors, radars, the Aegis combat system and cooling systems.
During a presentation at the annual Surface Navy Association symposium on Jan. 10, program manager of the Destroyer Modernization 2.0 program Capt. Tim Moore said his effort is complementary to traditional modernization and sustainment work.
Mod 2.0 focuses on adding versions of capabilities featured on the Flight III ships, particularly the Northrop Grumman [NOC] Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program (SEWIP) Block III, an RTX [RTX] SPY-6 Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR), a version of the newer Aegis Baseline, and cooling chillers.
Last September, then-Acting Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition Jay Stefany established the DDG Mod 2.0 office.
The upgraded ships will specifically replace the old AN/SLQ-32 SEWIP system with the new AN/ALQ-32(V)7, backfit the “slightly smaller” SPY-6(V)4, and install Aegis Block 10M and BMD 6M software and “high efficiency, super capacity chillers” for the sensors’ cooling needs, he said.
Moore characterized the SEWIP update as “an enhanced capability to provide electronic attack to complement our [electronic support] capability to the ships. This is critical. This is vital to the fight that we’re doing now to what you’re seeing going on out there in the Red Sea and beyond.”
“What I’m doing is providing expanded capability by modernizing two sensors, providing an upgraded combat system baseline to support those sensors and then upgrading the cooling to take care of the new capacity of those sensors,” he continued.
Moore said the Mod 2.0 upgrades are operating under the crawl-walk-run approach at the crawl stage, which he also called “Smart Start.”
The initial four Flight IIA destroyers will get upgrades in two increments each to prove out the work before later adding other destroyers getting their upgrade in one piece. The destroyers will get the legacy hull, mechanical and electric modernization and maintenance plus the SEWIP Block III in the first modernization availability.
The ships will then be sent to the fleet to deploy the new equipment, before returning to port for a second depot maintenance availability to add the SPY-6 and remaining systems.
“We call this the SmartStart: warships, little bit of capability, fleet has them for a while, bring them back, give them the rest of it.”
Moore said after the first four destroyers are fully upgraded, the remaining complement of upgrading ships will receive the work in one modernization availability.
Mod 2.0 started with the USS Pickney (DDG-91), which is wrapping up its first availability and has its first set of combat systems sea trials coming up at the end of January, with the first availability set to be finished by March.
Moore said next up are the USS James E. William (DDG-95) and USS Chung-Hoon (DDG 93), both under contract and set to start next week and the first week of February, respectively.
The last Smart Start Mod 2.0 upgrade will be the USS Halsey (DDG-97).
Moore said while the second modernization period will not take as long as a typical full deploy maintenance availability it will have to be docked to install the chillers.
He was unwilling to disclose how many upgrades the Navy plans to do annually after DDG-97 but said “we’re looking at multiple ships per year, multiple coasts at the same time. This is something we’re working out with the Fleet to ensure we’re taking the right ships at the right time in their cycle to get them into the yards for this availability upgrade.”
Speaking separately during the symposium on Jan. 11, Rear Adm. William Greene Commander of Navy Regional Maintenance Center and Director of Surface Ship Maintenance Modernization and Sustainment (SEA21), said the Navy plans to start modernizing two Flight IIA DDGs per year in fiscal year 2029. This will follow the first four Smart Start ships.
Moore also confirmed it is his “initial understanding” that the overall Mod 2.0 cost is about $17 billion, but they are “still refining it.”