 Hi, I'm Captain Jim Downey. I'm the DDG-1000 Program Manager here at NAVSEA. Alright, and could you explain for me what the main mission of DDG-1000 is? Sure. DDG-1000 is actually a multi-mission destroyer. It covers surface, subsurface, as well as air, warfare areas. Its real focus is in the laterals, providing volume fire support in the laterals, as well as support to our special operations areas. Okay, and what's the volume fire support? Volume fire support comes from our significant gun systems on the ship, and that's provide support right to our ground forces and precise targets ashore to help the Navy and those ground forces in that type of combat area. Would that specifically be the Mark 57 system or just the AGS? It's a combination, but the AGS system, the advanced gun system, is the principal system providing that volume support. That's a 63 nautical mile range gun system. It's actually an advanced rocket launcher. It launches a rocket that's about seven and a half feet long and very precise volume fire support. 63 nautical mile range of that advanced gun system, guided by a global positioning system navigation capability. Does it have the capability to fire without the great global positioning system? The global positioning system is integrated right into the gun system, so it has the ability to use that and acquire GPS, or it gets assets from the ship when it's fired. Cool. So how does the mission differ from previous DDGs like the Arleigh Burke? Sure. This ship is, there's several differences of significance in this ship. In addition to providing major new technologies, the ship itself is designed significantly different. It's designed with a significant radar cross-section reduction, a 50-fold reduction from our current surface combatants. That allows it to get in closer to land and be less detectable. That aids it in its littoral dominance capability. So that's one area that's different. The ship is designed significantly differently to support that mission area. The ship is also designed in power and propulsion and in manning significantly differently. The power and propulsion is the integrated power system, and that's designed with a 78 megawatt system. And that is a difference where the main propulsion, auxiliary propulsion, and the advanced induction motors actually provide all of the power for the ship. In addition to typical ships today, where the generators, those main generators support movement of the ship and other generators support the combat system and the ship systems. This is an integrated system of power, and that one system which is redundant throughout the ship supports all those mission areas as well as propulsion. The benefit of that is to not have to upgrade the ship in the future to provide more power capability if more power is needed for combat systems. So that's one major difference in the ship. Another major difference from past ships is this ship is designed, this class of ships are designed for less folks on board, less crew. Specifically, the ship is designed around this concept where there's less operational spaces on the ship, but more capability in those spaces that are provided. An example is there's no engineering control space on the ship. And the typical CIC or Combat Information Center is combined with engineering control and damage control into one ship's mission center, allowing less people to operate across a variety of equipment that gives them more capability. So you have control over power and control over combat systems in the same space to take advantage of that integrated power system. The propulsion or the launching systems on the ship are significantly different also. In two ways. They were designed for future missiles, longer missiles, heavier missiles, wider missiles. That's the Mark 57 VLS system. And they're designed on the periphery of the ship instead of centerline. And that is specifically to protect the ship if there were ever a damage control event related to those launchers. Just off the top of my head, wouldn't it, wouldn't, I know they have some pretty significant armor on the side of those VLS systems. Isn't it still a little bit, would you say it's a little bit more dangerous to have them on the skin of the ship instead of deeper in the core of the ship? No, it's actually the opposite. It protects the ship more and the heavy armor is designed to protect those launchers as well as the ship. And if there is an event with those launchers, it causes the blast to move out away from the ship instead of internal to the ship. So as far as the actual mission of the DDG-1000, what would you say is the primary difference between the older class? Not the systems on board, but the actual mission support that they'll be giving? Sure. The main area difference is the lateral dominance capability. So it's a multi-mission ship. It's globally deployable and supports many mission areas. But the key differences in the ship other than the power and the missiles that I talked about is it's much harder to detect the ship. The ship is specifically designed with a 50-fold radar cross-section reduction from our prior ships. That is to allow it to get closer to land, to more closely project power ashore as it moves closer to land. There's other systems aboard that support that in addition to the hull design. It has an instride mine avoidance for operating in hazardous waters, all designed to allow the ship to get closer to a hostile area and then to project power ashore. It's interesting because they increase the range with the AGS, but at the same time they give it the ability to move in closer to land. Right, which actually allows it to reach even further into land with that longer range. But in addition to the longer range, that gun system and those rounds have a multi-range capability with advanced capabilities of those rounds to address multiple targets. So, besides the obvious, how is it more effective than the earlier class ships? Well, it is from a power capability there's significantly more power available to the ship. To operate the ship and to use the power as needed for those operations. It also allows for the system to have less overhaul time in the future. You won't have to add power to the ship. That's a big difference. Another difference is this ship, our largest destroyer we've built, is a 15,000 ton ship with about 120 crew. The ship was actually designed for an optimally sized crew. Regarding the space consolidation that I talked about, the living accommodations of the crew, there's no general birthing on the ship. There's state rooms on the ship. The state rooms range from one to four people would actually live in the state rooms. Nothing larger than a four person state room. All of the state rooms have integrated heads in the state room. So there's no general birthing and there's very few general heads. They're all aligned directly in the state rooms. So with that, the systems are designed for a smaller crew. There's much more automation in the damage control of the ship. And there's more automation in capturing the aviation assets, the helos, the fire scout capability on the ship. All designed to reduce the workload for the crew. Could you tell me real quick about the automated damage control system? I know that's something that's pretty new and snazzy. Sure. There are multiple sensors in the ship throughout the ship. Monitoring the equipment, monitoring fluid levels, monitoring the boundaries of the ship for multiple purposes. That's integrated into the control system of the ship and the crew can see that information. With that, there's several different capabilities than we have today. Much more advanced in firefighting. There's a fire suppression system, much more significant automated fire capability, allowing the damage control crews to be smaller. There's tele-robotic fire nozzles out to fight the fire on the flight deck, so personnel are not out there on the flight deck. And then back to the power side. The power is designed with a unique capability that's referred to as integrated fight-through power, or IFTP. And the automation related to IFTP for damage control is an automatic reconfiguration of the power for the ship as needed based upon the damage control situation of the ship. Those are some of the biggest features within the automation of the damage control. That's pretty nifty. So the average sailor aboard that ship, because every sailor aboard any other ship normally has to go through their whole DC process. They're a part of the team. They do that. Is that still going to be expected to sail on this ship? It is. And there's a lot of advanced training for this ship. There's a bit of a different training concept. The standard Navy training in those areas is applied. And there are additional schoolhouses for the training for the ship. And the crew in this situation shows up to the ship ready for their final qualification. So there's a concept change in the training pipeline for the ship, additional training for two purposes, for all the new systems that are on the ship, and to reduce the time on board that's needed to qualify the person. Okay, so let me see. What are the ship's aerial and aircraft capabilities? There's multiple aviation assets that can support. It can house two helos at a time, principally H-60s, but it can land a wide variety of helicopters. In addition to the two helos, it can support three VT UAVs or fire scouts at a time. It has a capture system for the VT UAVs on the flight deck. It's a much larger flight deck than typical destroyers. It's almost double the size. It's a 150-foot flight deck out there. And then we have an assist system for the helicopters that does not include personnel to capture the helicopter. So as the helicopter lands on the flight deck, it triggers the assist system, and the assist system mechanically captures the helicopter. And that system moves the helicopter into the hangar, out of the hangar, and turns the helicopter as needed prior to launch. That was 150 square foot. 150 feet long. Oh, 150 feet long. Okay, so this is my favorite one. There have been a lot of rumors that the ship would not be able to hold up in a naval battle. That it can dish out punishment and it can't take it. Namely because of the way everything is connected. You take out one chain and the link and the whole chain fails. So what do you have to say about that? Yeah, that's a completely inaccurate concept. This ship is actually designed to the highest survivability put on any ships in the U.S. Navy. So it's designed against the Navy specs and Navy requirements for that highest level of survivability. So all of those new systems that exist in the ship are dual redundant in their capabilities in the ship. There are hull features within the ship for even increased survivability of this hull. So it's meant to bring the fight and fight well and defend itself within that fight. Globally deployable. So how long do we expect to see this ship in service? So the... How long do you expect it to be in service? Sure, it's designed for a service of 30 years and beyond. So that's built right into the service life of the ship. The first ship will deliver here from the hull mechanical electrical standpoint in 2014. And then it'll receive its combat systems activation and commissioning in 2015. And then the first of a class goes through a series of operational testing to declare that it's met its initial operational capability. And that'll occur in 2016. And then each ship is designed for 30-plus years. So what do you think this ship would mean to sailors? I think this ship and this class will introduce a very capable destroyer for the Navy. And for the sailors, they'll see technologies that they haven't ever used before. They're going to see integrated networks and integrated operational spaces on the ship. They're going to be working with other ratings side-by-side that they haven't worked before in an operational setting. So you'll see operational specialists working with various folks from engineering in the ship's mission center. And they will all have access and visibility into all elements of the ship. They'll see the entire situational awareness of the ship. The operational specialists will see the plant status. And they'll need to see that status as they make their decisions on fighting the ship. So they're going to see an advanced warfare capability that they have not experienced on any other ship today. And then they're going to see that from a perspective of a higher standard of living on the ship. An integrated stateroom capability, integrated messing capability, and the ship is designed with multiple learning centers and training centers in the ship to continue the training as they operate the ship. With the training of the DDG 1000 sailor, is it going to be superior to the training of another sailor that would just be a normal DDG? I think the Navy has progressed learning from other classes as we go. And what we'll see here is we're going to see an approach where when they arrive on the ship, they're much more highly trained than ships in the past. And they're going to need to be because of the actual advanced capabilities on the ship. So it'll be different training. It'll be more advanced training. And they'll need less time to prepare to operate the ship than in previous situations. Do you see fresh-out-of-boot camp sailors coming to this ship? Or would it be higher, you know, like third class, or even like a experienced seaman who's already been through one or two commands? Would you see fresh-out-of-boot camp sailors coming here, or, you know, people with experience already? We're going through the first ship crew selection right now. That crew is made up of about 120 sailors. About 16 officers and about 104 enlisted folks. Because of the advanced capabilities of the ship, the integrated fighting capability of the ship, the advanced training that you need, there is somewhat of an increase in the rank of who you see operating some of these ships. So as we go through that crew selection, some of those final decisions will be made. Yes, you do see a more senior petty officer operating many of these systems. And some of the training that's needed in route leads you to that type of rank for operations of the ship. You think they're going to make a new warfare device just because of the ship? That different? I don't think so. I think this is core to surface warfare in the Navy. And this is built against existing missions in the Navy, but with more advanced capability in those mission areas. So I think this is just in stride improvements in surface warfare, and has been long in the planning and the surface warfare side in the Navy. And what do you think this ship means to the Navy? I think it means it'll prove out all the research and development that the Navy has done in its various technology areas. It'll prove that we can have an all-electric ship and actually learn from that in our operations on how we provide power to combat systems and whole mechanical electrical systems. And more importantly, though, it'll prove out what is capable in these new mission areas. How can such an advanced stealth ship operate in these new warfare areas or advancements in those warfare areas in support of the country? So let me see. I think that's pretty much... Going back real quickly, one thing that I did skip, the LR LAP rounds, these amazing little advanced bullets, if you will. Explain to me a little bit about the automated auxiliary store room. Sure. So those rounds that come out of the advanced gun system, it's another example of the design of the ship, really. And that capability comes out of the gun, which is actually a rocket launcher, and those rounds come in via two magazines. Those magazines are completely unmanned. There's robotic systems within those magazines that actually move those rounds around with dual-redundant handling capability. Each system within the magazine can reach throughout the magazine and move pallets of those rounds into position to fire out of the gun without any human intervention. So the sailors will operate the system from their command positions, assign the missions, and then that handling system will grab the rounds needed and load the gun and fire the gun. All right. Anything else you'd like to add about DDG-1000? There's been a significant investment in the program to produce this class of ships. The technologies are proving out. We've had the results of a very good design for this past decade, and we're well into construction. We're looking very much forward to delivering these ships to the Navy soon in the next couple of years and proving them out in operations. All right. You're going to try and start one, sir? I'd love to, but we'll see. They've selected the first commanding officer already, so my job is to deliver them, and other folks will take on the operations. Good. Did you ask the comparable question for the sailors? That comparison between, say, the current destroyers, the Burke class, and Zoom Walk was that for me. I know you touched on it, but I'm not sure if you asked that comparable question. I hit... What is your last question on there? It's the one they added at the end of the day. Oh, will the experience for the sailors serving on DDG-1000 be different from the sailors serving on a destroyer in today's Navy? I thought I hit that on training and their accommodations and the mission centers, but I'm going to do that again? Well, if the question speaks something different to you, I'll just repeat it. How will the experience for a sailor serving on DDG-1000 be different from the sailor serving on any destroyer in today's Navy? Those sailors serving on DDG-1000, they'll differ in several ways from how they serve on other destroyers today. Principally, they'll be operating brand new systems that do not exist, for the most part, on other ships. They'll be operating new combat systems and the first ever integrated power system in the U.S. Navy. They'll be operating those systems from common mission areas on the ship and not from segregated engineering and combat operation spaces. So that'll be different. They'll be operating the systems with much more situational awareness of the entire ship operations. So the operations of the ship are much more integrated, allowing for this optimally crude ship. And then they'll be doing that from a ship that provides them state rooms, provides them integrated heads in the state rooms, integrated berthing with messing capability aligned. And they'll do that in a ship that gives more advanced training because of the advanced technologies on the ship than we typically do today.