America’s First Stealth Destroyer Program: Six Years Behind Schedule and More Than 100% Over Budget

The U.S. Navy’s first Zumwalt Class heavy destroyer will not be combat ready until at least September 2021, ten years after the warship was first laid down, according to the latest estimates. This places the program six years behind schedule. The warships were designed as part of an ambitious next generation program to replace the Arleigh Burke Class ships, and were equipped with state of the art sensors, a radar cross section reducing profile and a sizeable weapons payload of 80 vertical launch cells. The program has since proven to be a major failure however, with the number of ships set to be commissioned reduced by over 90%  from 32 to just three. The costs per unit, meanwhile, have continued to rise - reaching over $7.8 billion per ship at the latest estimate - making each more costly than a Nimitz Class nuclear powered supercarrier which, accounting for inflation, cost under $6 billion. The immense cost of ammunition for the Zumwalt Class’ 155 millimeter guns, meanwhile, at $566,000 per round, has forced the Navy to cancel these weapons systems leaving the destroyers with less firepower than was initially planned. Initial plans to equip the destroyers with over 100 vertical launch cells also had to be scrapped, leaving the destroyers with less firepower than the older Arleigh Burke Class - and considerably less than the latest Chinese Type 055 Class destroyers and the upcoming Russian 22350m Class frigates.

While the first Zumwalt Class destroyer may be operational by the end of 2021 - this will be at the level of an initial operating capability meaning it will still be several years before it is ready for deployment in a high intensity combat environment against potential near peer adversaries. The warships have suffered from multiple performance shortcomings including issues with their air defence capabilities, troubled sensors, breakdowns at sea and instability in heavy seas among others. The program’s termination, and the U.S. Navy’s subsequent investment in enhanced variants of the Arleigh Burke Class in its stead, bears testament to the failure of the Zumwalt Class design. The program has, however, provided the United States Military and its shipyards with invaluable experience in developing next generation destroyers which no other navy in the world, with the possible exception of China with the Type 055 Class, currently has. This could prove invaluable in avoiding similar issues on future destroyer programs should a similar heavyweight stealth design again be pursued in future.