The most expensive destroyer in history of US Navy
MODERN warfare is not cheap. But even among the priciest and most cutting-edge battle machines, the USS Zumwalt is in a class apart. The warship is the most expensive destroyer in the history of the Navy, costing about $4.4 billion.
Along with the hefty price tag comes a marvel of nautical engineering. During its October commissioning ceremony in Baltimore, the Associated Press reported that Admiral Harry Harris, commander of the United States Pacific Command, described the Zumwalt as the warship Batman would own.
But even a billionaire playboy like BruceWayne would struggle to finance the ship’s guns, reported to fire ammunition costing $800,000 a round.
The ship is 186 metres long but has the radar signature of a fish- ing vessel a 12th of its size, thanks to a unique angular hull that obscures its guns, radar systems and sensors from detection. It treads quietly through the water. “The composite superstructure significantly reduces cross section and acoustic output making the ship harder to detect by enemies at sea,” according to the Navy’s description.
“As long as our president and you the American people have an insatiable appetite for security . . . I have an insatiable appetite for the stuff to underwrite that security,” Admiral Harris said in October.
Zumwalt-class ships were also meant to carry advanced, high energy weapons. Specifically, the USS Zumwalt was designed to bear two guns that fired Long Range Land Attack Projectiles, or LRLAP. The advanced gun sys- tem was built to rapidly and precisely strike targets over 110 kilometres away, as a cost-effective alternative to cruise missiles. As developer Lockheed Martin describes the system:
“The 155 mm LRLAP is both the most accurate and longestrange guided projectile in US Navy history, with a maximum range in excess of 63 nautical miles. It’s [sic] precision and near vertical angle of fall enables the Warfighter to defeat targets in the urban canyons of coastal cities with minimal collateral damage. The LRLAP system provides highvolume fire support at a rate of 10 rounds per minute through the depth of the magazine.”
The tests of the weapon showed promise. But, just weeks after the Zumwalt’s commissioning ceremony, it became apparent there was a problem with LRLAP: The $800,000 price tag on a single shot of the GPS-guided, rocketpropelled ammunition.
“We were going to buy thousands of these rounds,” said an unnamed Navy official to Defense News on Sunday. “But quantities of ships killed the affordable round.” Fully stocked, the ship would carry 600 rounds of LRLAP ammunition.
Lockheed Martin initially estimated that the projectiles would cost about $50,000 each. As Ars Technica noted, the current $800,000 price tag is closer to that of a $1 million-per-shot Tomahawk cruise missile, which is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and travelling more than 1,000 miles. The LRLAP costs an order of magnitude more than other GPS- or laserguided rounds, and f ar more than the shells fired by standard 5-inch artillery guns.
The Navy was unable to immediately respond to a request for comment. A naval representative told Defense News via email that the Navy was “evaluating industry projectile solutions” that “could potentially be used as an alternative to LRLAP”.
The Navy’s initial plan, when it began developing the warships, was to build 32 of the Zumwalt- Zumwalt. class vessels. But as the cost ballooned, the program shrunk from 24 ships to seven and, ultimately, the current plan of three ships. Of these, the USS Zumwalt is the only completed ship.
It is unclear what will happen to the weapon system, or whether other proposed systems, such as the Navy’s high-tech rail gun, would be installed on the USS Zumwalt.