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Summary

The Navy is procuring a new kind of destroyer called the DDG-1000. The ship was earlier called the DD(X). Navy plans call for procuring a total of seven DDG1000s. The first two were procured in FY2007 using split funding (i.e., incremental funding) in FY2007 and FY2008. The Navy estimates their combined procurement cost at $6,325 million. This figure includes about $2.0 billion detailed design/nonrecurring engineering (DD/NRE) costs for the entire DDG-1000 class. The Navy wants to procure the third DDG-1000 in FY2009; the Navy estimates its procurement cost at $2,653 million. The ship received $150 million in advance procurement funding in FY2008, and the Navy's proposed FY2009 budget requests the remaining $2,503 million. The Navy's proposed FY2009 budget also requests $51 million in advance procurement funding for the fourth DDG-1000, which the Navy wants to procure in FY2010. At a February 27, 2008, hearing on Navy shipbuilding programs before the Defense subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, the chairman of the subcommittee, Representative John Murtha, stated that the subcommittee is considering deferring procurement of the third DDG-1000 and using the funding programmed for that ship to instead procure three other ships for the Navy in FY2009 -- a San Antonio (LPD-17) class amphibious ship and two Lewis and Clark (TAKE1) class dry cargo ships. At a March 6, 2008, hearing on the Department of the Navy's proposed FY2009 budget before the House Armed Services Committee, certain committee members, including Representative Gene Taylor, the chairman of the Seapower and Expeditionary Forces subcommittee, stated that they are considering the option of not procuring additional DDG-1000s and instead procuring additional Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) class Aegis destroyers. These DDG-51s, it was stated at the hearing, could act as a bridge to a design for the Navy's planned CG(X) cruiser that is based on an enlarged version of the DDG-51 hull and powered by one-half of the reactor plant that the Navy has designed for its new Ford (CVN-78) class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. The DDG-1000 program raises several potential oversight issues for Congress, including the accuracy of Navy cost estimates for the program, program affordability and cost effectiveness, technical risk, and the program's potential implications for the shipbuilding industrial base. Congress has several options regarding the DDG-1000 program, including the options mentioned at the February 27 and March 6, 2008, hearings. This report will be updated as events warrant.

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