1
CRS Report RL32109, Navy DD(X) and LCS Ship Acquisition Programs: Oversight Issues and
Options for Congress, by Ronald O’Rourke.
2
For more on the LCS, see CRS Report RS21305, Navy Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Program:
Background and Issues for Congress, by Ronald O’Rourke.
Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
Order Code RS21059
Updated May 31, 2005
Navy DD(X) and CG(X) Programs: Background
and Issues for Congress
Ronald O’Rourke
Specialist in National Defense
Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division
Summary
The FY2006-FY2011 Future Years Defense Plan (FYDP) reduces planned DD(X)
destroyer procurement to one per year in FY2007-FY2011 and accelerates procurement
of the first CG(X) cruiser to FY2011. The Navy estimates that the first and second
DD(X)s would cost more than $3 billion each to procure and that subsequent DD(X)s
would cost $2.2 billion to $2.6 billion each to procure. These estimates are substantially
higher than last year’s estimates. The DD(X)/CG(X) program poses several issues for
Congress, including issues related to the program’s affordability, cost-effectiveness, and
acquisition strategy. For a longer discussion of the DD(X) and CG(X), see CRS Report
RL32109.
1
This report will be updated as events warrant.
Background
The DD(X) destroyer and CG(X) cruiser programs were announced by the Navy in
November 2001 as part of a proposed new family of surface combatants that is also to
include the small Littoral Combat Ship (LCS).
2
The DD(X) would have a full-load
displacement of about 14,000 tons, which would make it roughly 50% larger than the
Navy’s current 9,000-ton Aegis cruisers and destroyers, and larger than any Navy
destroyer or cruiser since the nuclear-powered cruiser Long Beach (CGN-9), which was
procured in FY1957. The DD(X) is to be a multimission ship with an emphasis on naval
surface fire support (NSFS). It would incorporate several new surface combatant
technologies, and would be equipped with two 155-mm (6.1-inch) Advanced Gun
Systems (AGSs) and 80 missile tubes for Tomahawk cruise missiles and other weapons.
It would have a crew of 125 to 175 persons, compared to more than 300 on current Navy
destroyers and cruisers. In large part due to its reduced crew size, the DD(X) is to cost
substantially less to operate and support than the Navy’s current cruisers and destroyers.
