These warships were designed as
multi-mission destroyers, able to fulfill
the strategic land strike role with
tomahawk missiles, anti-aircraft warfare, AAW, roll with powerful Aegis radar and
surface-to-air missiles and to submarine
warfare ASW with towed sonar array and
to submarine rockets an ASW helicopter
an anti-surface warfare asuw with
harpoon missile launcher.
With upgrades to their in SPY-1 phased
radar systems and their associated
missile payloads as part of the aegis
ballistic missile defense system. The
ships of this class have also begun to
demonstrate some promise as mobile
anti-ballistic missile and
anti-satellite weaponry platforms. Operating on 15 ships as of march 2009. Some versions of the class no longer
have the towed sonar or harpoon missile
launcher. their hull and superstructure were
designed to have a reduced radar cross
section.
The first ship of the class was
commissioned on the 4th of July 1991. With the decommissioning of the last
spruance class destroyer USS Cushing on
the 21st of September 2005. The arleigh
burke class ships became the us navy's
only active destroyers until the zumwalt
class became active in 2016. The arleigh burke class has the longest
production run for any Post-World War II US Navy surface combatant.
Besides the 62 vessels of this class
comprising 21 of flight eye 7 of flight
2 and 34 of flight IIA in service by
2016, up to a further 42 of flight 3 have
been envisioned. With an overall length of 505 to 509.5
feet
153.9 to
155.3 meters. Displacement ranging from
8230 to 9700 tons and weaponry including
over 90 missiles. The arleigh burke class
are larger and more heavily armed than
most previous ships classified as guided
missile cruisers.
With the development of the Tomahawk Block V, all existing block IV tomahawks
carried converted to the block V version
and become dual role missiles with
anti-ship capability along with their
land attack role. The tomahawk can be carried in much
larger numbers than the harpoon and has
a much larger warhead. The class's RIM-7 Sea Sparrow RIM 162 ESSM missiles provide point defense
against missiles and aircraft.
The standard missile SM-2 and SM-6
provide area anti-aircraft defense. The SM-6 provides over-the-horizon missile
defense. The standard missile 3 and 6 also
provide ballistic missile defense BMD, so vital has the aegis ballistic missile
defense system bmd role of the class
become that all ships of the class are
being updated with bmd capability. The flight 3 variant is in the design
phase as of 2013.
In june 2013, the US Navy awarded 6.2
billion dollars in destroyer contracts, up to 42 flight 3 ships may be procured
by the US Navy with the first ship
entering service in 2023. They will leverage technologies in use
on other platforms such as the Zumwalt-Class destroyer littoral combat
ship and Gerald R Ford class aircraft
carrier.
Tags
Military