Source: The Dong-a Ilbo
The U.S. Navy will inaugurate the “DDG1000,” a next generation stealth destroyer, which is undetected on radar screens. The destroyer will be deployed next year as one of the three core elements for the U.S. Pacific Command along with the F-35 stealth fighter, and the Missile Defense System. The battleship is expected to play a role to keep at bay China, which seeks to become a military superpower, and monitor North Korea’s nuclear and missile development programs. According to the Associated Press, the destroyer, which has been constructed in secret, is 15,000 ton class in size, rendering it the largest among the destroyers the U.S. Navy possess, and is armed with high-tech weapons systems.
The destroyer, which is categorized as the Zumwalt Class named after Admiral Elmo Bird Zumwalt, who was named the youngest Navy General Chief of Staff during the Richard Nixon administration, is about 40 percent larger than the existing Arleigh Burke class, but is only detected as a small fishing boat on the radar screen due to its advanced stealth function. The ship can fire 600 GPS-guided projectiles of long-range artillery guns per 30 minutes.
The ship will have 155-mm artillery guns, with the gun’s range even exceeding that of a short-range missile. As the ship operates on its own power generation facilities that can supply a power output enough for 78,000 households, which enables it to fire next-generation electronic cannons at the speeds of up to Mach 7.
The electronic gun is said to have a max range of up to 160 km. For this reason, the ship is called the “Killer of Aircraft Carriers,” and chances are high that it will be deployed at real military operation.
Equipped with a vertical launch system (VLS), the destroyer can fire guns of warship both from the bow and the sides, which increases the possibility for its survival even when attacked. Since its internal data system is equipped with a self-shock absorption apparatus, the ship can continue operating the system even when opening fires, compared with conventional destroyers that had to turn off the data system when firing guns.
As the battleship is designed to block its engine noise from spreading, it is capable of carrying out mission in silence. Due to its state-of-the-art automation system, the ship only needs a crew of 158 members, or about half that of conventional destroyers. The U.S. Navy originally planned to construct about 32 USS Zumwalt destroyers, but will build only three due to the high cost amounting to 3.5 billion U.S. dollars per ship.
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