According to the "Warzone" section of the "Power" community in the United States, on January 12th, the US Navy unveiled for the first time the conceptual design draft and scheme sketch of the next generation air defense destroyer DDGX at the annual meeting of the American Surface Ship Association. The US Navy stated that the first DDGX ship will start construction in 2028 and initially form combat capability by the 2030s. In terms of specific plan development, a "two-step" strategy will be chosen. The first batch of ships will extensively use the mature technology of the currently under construction Burke III destroyer, and more new technologies and equipment will be used in the future, becoming the main surface warfare vessels of the US Navy.

The first ship of the US Navy's Burke III, the Jack Lucas

For the DDGX sketch exhibited by the US Navy, not only domestic military enthusiasts, but even American military enthusiasts were surprised. Even foreign military observers posted on a certain social media platform, angrily saying that the US Navy's DDGX "simply copied the design of the Chinese Navy 055"!Indeed, from the design of the ship's angled bow, front and rear split bridge, navigation bridge outer island platform, and vertical launch system located in the midship of the hull, this DDGX is simply the "American brother" of the 055 large destroyer. From this design concept diagram, the four sided S-band active phased array radar is located above the navigation bridge. Although it is more similar to the Spanish F-100 "Bazin" class compared to the Type 055 large destroyer, in the early stages of the design of the Type 055 large destroyer, there was actually a design of "carrying phased array on the navigation bridge". In short, it is no wonder that everyone associated the Type 055 with the DDGX.

However, for Ivan the Great, since this design concept map is only a "concept map", and the US Navy specifically marked a sentence on the map, saying "the actual ship may not be similar to this map".Therefore, to say that the US Navy's DDGX is the "American brother" of the Chinese Navy's Type 055 destroyer is enough, and there is no need to take it too seriously. After all, from the videos and photos released by other channels of the US Navy, some of the models that the US Navy is really testing are more like "Burke's hull+Zumwalt's superstructure", maybe this is the real DDGX.

DDGX model in testing

Based on the information released by the US Navy at the annual meeting of the Naval Association, Da Ivan believes that the first batch of DDGX ships (referred to as the "baseline" by the US Navy) have mostly average performance and a few have outstanding performance. However, it is difficult to predict the subsequent "incremental" versions. For example, in terms of ship electrical systems, the baseline type of DDGX still uses the 14 foot array AN/SPY-6 (V) 1 AMDR-S active phased array radar array of the "Burke III" destroyer, which includes 37 RMA units. Compared with the active AN/SPY-1D passive phased array radar of the "Burke", its performance has improved across generations;

At the same time, the AN/SPQ-9B X-band air and sea rapid response radar, which has been used on the Burke IIA since 2018, has also been retained. It is estimated that it can share the same RF backend with the AN/SPY-6 radar and form a "poor version" dual band radar system;

What is most surprising is that the DDGX is also equipped with three US Navy's "ancestral" AN/SPG-62 illumination radars. The mission of this radar is mainly to illuminate the "Standard-2" series of air defense missiles. After the emergence of the "Standard-6" and CEC systems, this radar was basically useless and somehow continued to be retained.

For example, in the military readiness system, the US Navy pointed out that the DDGX will continue to use the MK-41 vertical launch system that the US Navy has been using for more than 30 years. The Baseline version of the DDGX has 32 units installed on the front deck and 64 units installed on the midship deck, with a layout identical to the Burke IIA. Although the US Navy has been roast in recent years that the MK-41 vertical launch system is not wide and deep enough to carry large tactical missiles, it has specially developed the MK-57 side vertical launch system with a side length of 71cm and a depth of 7.92m, which is installed on the DDG-1000. However, for some unknown reason, the US Navy still did not use the validated MK-57 vertical launch system on the new generation DDGX destroyer, but instead adopted the outdated MK-41 vertical launch system.

However, the performance of the baseline version of DDGX is not entirely "average":For example, in terms of power system, although the US Navy has not yet announced the power system of the DDGX and may use four Rolls Royce MT-30s or General Electric LM-2500G4 gas turbines, it has been pointed out that the DDGX destroyer will use an IEP integrated all electric propulsion system similar to the DDG-1000 "Zumwalt", which will bring significant advantages to its cabin distribution, ship wide energy distribution, etc;

Previously, laser weapons tested by the US Navy

For example, in terms of military preparedness systems, the US Navy has pointed out that the DDGX will be equipped with a 150 kW laser weapon at the bow B gun position, which is estimated to be 4 to 5 times more powerful than the ODIN laser weapon currently being tested by the US military. Although it still cannot strike hypersonic anti-ship missiles or anti-ship ballistic missiles, it can at least effectively kill some small subsonic anti-ship missiles;

In addition, the US Navy may adopt a creative modular design for the vertical launch unit at the bow of the DDGX. Instead of installing the 32 unit MK-41 vertical launch system, four VPM integrated vertical launch systems can be installed, each of which can carry three CPS sea based medium range ballistic missiles. Of course, as a cost, this will reduce the number of units in the DDGX's MK-41 vertical launch system to 64, which may affect its maritime air defense capabilities.

WhenHowever, in the minds of the US Navy, the baseline version of the DDGX only achieved the "first step", and there will be one or more "incremental" versions in the future. Its development path is similar to the development trajectory of the "Burke" class from the earliest "Burke I" to the latest "Burke III". According to the US Navy, the next stage of the "incremental" version of the DDGX will undergo the following improvements:

Firstly, in terms of power system, the "incremental" version of DDGX will use a more advanced Integrated Propulsion and Energy System (IPES). Compared to the current Integrated Electric Propulsion System (IEP), it is unclear what the technological advantages of this IPES are, and it may adopt second-generation propulsion motors and energy management stations;

Secondly, in the ship's electrical system, the "incremental" version of DDGX will be further upgraded on the basis of the existing 14 foot array AN/SPY-6 radar. We plan to upgrade to a larger 18 foot array with 57 RMA units, which has a detection capability 1.6 times higher than the existing AN/SPY-6 radar and a comprehensive operational capability more than 3 times higher. In addition, it is estimated that "truly" dual band radar, integrated RF mast, etc. will also become standard equipment for DDGX's subsequent "incremental" models;

Thirdly, in terms of military readiness systems, the US Navy has not completely denied the possibility of installing the MK-57 vertical launch system on the "incremental" DDGX destroyer. At the same time, it is also preparing to install a large 600 kW laser weapon on each side of the "incremental" rear bridge of the DDGX. Compared to the 150 kW laser installed at the B gun position at the bow of the ship, which can only intercept small anti-ship missiles or drones, the 600 kW laser theoretically can intercept large supersonic battle anti-ship missiles, but it still seems unable to intercept hypersonic anti-ship missiles or anti-ship ballistic missiles;

Finally, the US Navy has not yet provided a timeline for the "incremental" development of DDGX. Based on the current development milestones of DDGX, it is estimated that the official start of the US Navy's "incremental" DDGX should not be earlier than 2030.

After analyzing the overall design, subsystem performance, and possible future development path of the US Navy's DDGX destroyer, Ivan the Great must point out that based on the current situation, the baseline version of the DDGX may have some performance advantages, such as the power system and close range weapon system, but overall performance should not be as good as the 055 large destroyer.