Navy DDG-51 Destroyer Procurement Rate: Issues and Options for Congress

Congress has procured 29 Arleigh Burke DDG-51 class destroyers since FY1985 the first 3 had entered service by the end of 1993. The DDG-51 program is one of the Department of the Navys highest-priority procurement programs. The Administration wants to continue procuring 3 DDG-51s per year 28 total through FY2004, at a current cost of about 900 million per ship. The issue for Congress is whether to modernize the Navys surface combatant force by maintaining the DDG-51 procurement rate at 3 ships per year or by adopting a different modernization strategy. Congress decision on this issue could have important implications for DoD funding requirements, U.S. military capabilities, and the U.S. defense industrial base. New technologies first fielded in the 1980s have substantially increased the capabilities of surface combatants. They are not only escorts, but important combatants in their own right. In future years, the Navy will focus on operations in littoral near-shore areas. The littoral is a complex, compressed battle space that can be very demanding on naval forces. At the end of 1993, the Navy operated a total of 135 surface combatants 119 active and 16 reserve. The Navys goal is to achieve and maintain a force of 124 surface combatants 114 active and 10 reserve. If this goal is accepted, then a long-term average building rate of more than 3 ships per year is needed. If the rate is reduced to less than 3 ships per year for a time, it must then be higher than 3 ships per year at some other time. The Navys goal also calls for 80 of the 114 active surface combatants to be higher-capability ships like the DDG-51s by about 2005. If this goal is accepted, another 25 to 30 higher-capability ships would be needed by about 2005. The Administrations plan would provide 28 such higher-capability ships by about 2009.