Navy Says It Won’t Repeat Cruiser Upgrade Blunder With Destroyer Modernization 2.0 Effort
Three more destroyers will return to the water this year as part of a program that will see them gain electronic warfare, radar and combat systems upgrades.
Geoff Ziezulewicz
Posted 16 Hours Ago
As the U.S. Navy proceeds with modernizing its Flight IIA Arleigh Burke class destroyers with advanced electronic warfare, radar and combat systems upgrades, the head of the so-called DDG Modernization 2.0 program said the service has learned lessons from its deeply troubled Ticonderoga class cruiser modernization efforts, and several guardrails are in place to avoid similar pitfalls.
TWZ has reported extensively on the congressionally mandated cruiser modernization effort, and how nearly $4 billion was spent modernizing seven of the ships, which have for years served in the air defense commander role for carrier strike groups (CSG), among other missions. But of those seven large surface combatants, none ended up gaining the extra five years of service life originally envisioned.
Instead, nearly half that money was wasted modernizing four cruisers that never returned to sea and were retired by the Navy, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) assessment, which warned that efforts like DDG Modernization 2.0 carried the same risks if the Navy didn’t learn from its mistakes.
https://www.twz.com/news-features/navy-says-it-wont-repeat-cruiser-upgrade-blunder-with-destroyer-modernization-2-0-effort
