http://www.dsti.net/News/55628.htm
DDG 1000驅逐艦項目的新進展
[據美國海軍時報網站2009年8月17日報導]近期,關於DDG 1000驅逐艦專案討論最多的話題是海軍在去年夏天將其採購數量由7艘降至3艘,或每艘艦的造價將大大超出33億美元的預訂目標,以及在新的國家戰略下,是否還需要其對陸攻擊能力,但大多數人卻忽視了DDG 1000項目的進展。目前,DDG 1000首制艦的主要部件正逐步成型,一旦準備就緒,這些部件將被運往通用動力公司巴斯鋼鐵船廠進行組裝。自2009年2月起,DDG 1000首制艦已開始了焊接組裝工作。
DDG 1000驅逐艦在武器系統、發動機、雷達以及其他設備方面都將採用新型技術。近日,DDG 1000專案主管詹姆斯•希瑞恩對DDG 1000驅逐艦13項主要工程開發模型的開發進展進行了簡單的介紹。這13項模型中,除3項以外均已開始進行生產。
希瑞恩表示,BAE公司的155毫米先進艦炮系統(AGS)及其彈藥、洛克希德•馬丁公司的遠端對陸攻擊炮彈(LRLAP)均已開發完成。其中155毫米先進艦炮系統目前正在肯塔基州的路易斯維爾生產,艦炮發射架也正在明尼阿波利斯建造。2009年7月,遠端對陸攻擊炮彈在白沙導彈試驗場進行了測試,其射程達到了63英里(101.4千米),而對火箭發動機化學燃料的進一步開發還會將遠端對陸攻擊炮彈射程提高10英里以上。
先進垂直發射系統由雷聲公司負責生產,目前8套週邊垂直發射系統(PVLS)中的7套已開始在巴斯船廠裝配。整合式複合材料甲板室開發工作也已完成,諾斯羅普•格魯曼公司正在密西西比州的格爾夫波特進行首艦上層建築的建造工作。
紅外抑制發動機排氣系統及排熱系統在經歷4次大型海上測試後,目前也已開發完畢。綜合電力系統(IPS)部件目前正在製造過程中,其中包括阿爾斯通公司的先進感應電動機(AIM)以及羅爾斯•羅伊斯公司的MT-30燃氣渦輪發電機。自動滅火系統也處在生產過程,同時正在生產的還包括SQQ-90綜合水下作戰系統。
DDG 1000驅逐艦獨特的向內傾斜船型已開發完成。希瑞恩稱,儘管制定安全操作程式的測試要一直持續到2015年首艦服役後,但對DDG 1000驅逐艦在惡劣天氣下的測試以及取得所有完成的測試相互關係的工作還將繼續下去。
雷達方面,SPY-3型X波段雷達已於2008年秋季在“保羅•F•福斯特”號(“斯普魯恩斯”級)驅逐艦上完成了海上測試,首批2套SPY-3雷達陣列目前正在裝配之中,雷聲公司於6月開始對首批雷達陣列進行測試。而由洛克希德•馬丁公司開發的SPY-4型S波段雷達甲板下的元件部分已進入全速生產階段,用於DDG 1000驅逐艦和“福特”號航母的6套雷達合同也已簽訂。
全艦計算環境的開發工作仍在繼續。希瑞恩表示,軟體發展工作目前進展順利,工作完成量超過了50%。設計工作目前也已接近完成,94個三維模型中,90個艦體結構與舾裝圖紙提取工作已完成,剩下的4個將在9月前完成。
人員方面,儘管DDG 1000距服役還有幾年時間,但五角大樓的分析家們在今年年初的報告中對DDG1000艦人員需求表示了關注。希瑞恩表示,我們將在2011年初組織人員,並將在2012年起進行船廠培訓,而艦上的指揮人員的挑選工作將會在現在起持續幾年時間。(中國船舶工業綜合技術經濟研究院 溫佳峰)
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/08/navy_zumwalt_081709w/
DDG 1000 project quietly logs successes
By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Aug 17, 2009 14:18:25 EDT
Nearly every discussion of the new DDG 1000 Zumwalt-class destroyers revolves around the Navy’s decision last summer to “truncate” the planned buy from seven ships to three.
Or around cost projections that foresee figures wildly in excess of the stated $3.3 billion goal.
Or around whether the land-attack capability of the ships is still needed in the new national strategy now taking shape under the Quadrennial Defense Review.
Often overlooked in all the chatter is that, methodically, steadily — and even quietly — major components of the first ship are taking shape all across the country. When ready, the parts will be shipped largely by barge and rail to the General Dynamics Bath Iron Works shipyard at Bath, Maine, where, since February, shipbuilders are welding together the steel that make up the ship’s 600-foot-long hull.
The ship will be packed with new technology, from its weaponry to the engines to the radars and more. Capt. James Syring, DDG 1000 program manager, recently ticked off progress on 13 major engineering development models, all but three of which have begun production.
Done with development are BAE’s 155mm Advanced Gun System and its bullet, Lockheed Martin’s Long Range Land Attack Projectile. The gun is being built in Louisville, Ky., and its carriage in Minneapolis. Last month, the LRLAP was fired at a White Sands, N.M., test range to its threshold range of 63 miles, and further “tweaking” of the rocket motor’s chemistry should push the shell 10 miles farther, Syring said.
The Advanced Vertical Launch System is in production at Raytheon, and seven of eight Peripheral VLS modules are being welded together at Bath. Development of the composite deckhouse has ended, and Northrop Grumman is building the ship’s superstructure at Gulfport, Miss.
“We’re well into production at Gulfport,” Syring said, pointing to a picture of the completed 150-foot O-4 deck. “They had a .01 percent defect rate on this panel — the largest contiguous composite panel in the ship.”
The infrared suppression engine exhaust and heat suppression system completed development after four major at-sea tests. The components of the Integrated Power System are in production, including Alstom’s Advanced Induction Motor and Rolls-Royce’s MT-30 gas turbine generators. The ship’s automatic fire suppression system also is in production, as are portions of the SQQ-90 integrated undersea warfare system.
Development of the unique tumblehome hull form is finished, Syring said, although testing to establish safe operating procedures will continue even after the ship enters service in 2015. “It won’t complete until we take the ship through a heavy weather trial and get correlation between all the testing that’s been done,” he explained.
Radar systems progressing
Development work continues, Syring said, on the SPY-3 Multi-Function Radar, the SPY-4 Volume Search Radar and the Total Ship Computing Environment.
Both radars — which together form the Dual Band Radar led by prime contractor Raytheon — have been installed together since January at the Wallops Island Engineering Center on the Virginia coast. Early on, the radars were tracking aircraft targets of opportunity, Syring said. Aircraft test runs began this summer and will continue into the fall, he added.
The SPY-3, an X-band radar, completed at-sea testing in the spring of 2008 off the California coast aboard the test ship Paul F. Foster, a former Spruance-class destroyer. The first two SPY-3 arrays are being assembled, Syring said, and Raytheon began testing of the first array in June at Andover, Mass.
“Minor production issues” on the MFR have been worked through, Syring said. “We’ve had no operational issues.”
Below-deck components of the SPY-4, an S-band radar developed by Lockheed, are in full-rate production, and six arrays — for the Zumwalt and also for the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford — are under contract.
“I’m not aware of any VSR issues,” Syring said. “It’s S-band, it’s well understood, and Lockheed does a good job with S-band.”
Work on the ship’s computing environment also continues.
“Software development continues to go well. We’re much greater than 50 percent done at this point,” Syring said. “We’re pretty modular in terms of the electronics of the combat system and the network,” he added.
Design work is also approaching completion. “Of the three-dimensional models, 90 of 94 are completely released for structure and outfitting drawing extraction. Locked down. The remaining four will be done by September. So we’re out of the model business,” he declared.
Design maturity is a major factor in the Navy’s long-standing insistence that the DDG 1000 program will be held to budget. And Syring seemed confident that his program is performing as it should.
“I track every week variances to that amount” under contract, he said. “And we are right where we need to be. Is it perfect, 100 percent? No. Is it within single-digit percentages of where we need to be? Yes.”
Syring also took pains to specifically address the radar.
“Are you experiencing massive cost growth on radar? No. In production. MFR, we know what that costs … it’s right where it needs to be. And when I say it needs to be, I mean 1.0 in terms of what we put under contract and what they’re performing to.”
Responding to unofficial comments that the DDG 1000 program is experiencing significant cost growth, Syring bristled.
“I do not have cost growth on contracts right now,” he said. “If I had major variances and we were overrunning by tens of millions of dollars — one, it would be visible to people who watch this, and two, I probably wouldn’t have time to sit here and talk with you right now.
“Do we have challenges within our lifeline? Every day. But that’s the job of the program manager.”
The people side
It will still be several years before the Zumwalt will be manned by sailors, but Pentagon analysts reported earlier this year concerns about the need for most personnel to be qualified when they report aboard because of the small crew, as well as the high number of clearances crew members will need.
“The way we’ve structured the design of the Ship Mission Center is that it’s severable and operable at any security level the commanding officer or commodore want that ship to operate at,” program manager Capt. James Syring said. “We can operate it at a secret level, we can operate parts of the SMC at a secret level and other parts at the top secret or [Sensitive Compartmented Information] level. We can operate it all at the top secret level. We can operate it all at the unclassified level.”
Crew training already is part of the DDG 1000 plan, Syring said.
“We worked with the training community [to determine] exactly what the training pipeline for sailors is going to be. We can tell you down to the first billet what the first officer and first enlisted billet code is going to be and what the training pipeline is going to be to get them to the ship. I think we’re out in front of that.”
Sailors still have time to work on their qualifications to be among the first to serve on the ship.
“We start to man up in earnest in 2011, early 2012 — start phasing people to the shipyard,” Syring said. And the prospective commanding officer — who will be a commander — “will be chosen probably in a couple of years from now.”