SINGAPORE (AP) â A super-stealthy warship that could underpin the U.S. navy's China strategy will be able to sneak up on coastlines virtually undetected and pound targets with electromagnetic "railguns" right out of a sci-fi movie.
But at more than $3 billion a pop, critics say the new DDG-1000 destroyer sucks away funds that could be better used to bolster a thinly stretched conventional fleet.
But the destroyers' $3.1 billion price tag, which is about twice the cost of the current destroyers and balloons to $7 billion each when research and development is added in, nearly sank it in Congress. Though the Navy originally wanted 32 of them, that was cut to 24, then seven.
Now, just three are in the works.
They point to the problem-ridden F-22 stealth jet fighter, which was hailed as the most advanced fighter ever built but was cut short because of prohibitive costs.
Its successor, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, has swelled up into the most expensive procurement program in Defense Department history.
One outspoken admiral in China has scoffed that all it would take to sink the high-tech American ship is an armada of explosive-laden fishing boats.
Rear Adm. Zhang Zhaozhong, an outspoken commentator affiliated with China's National Defense University, scoffed at the hype surrounding the ship, saying that despite its high-tech design it could be overwhelmed by a swarm of fishing boats laden with explosives. If enough boats were mobilized some could get through to blow a hole in its hull, he said.
"It would be a goner," he said recently on state broadcaster CCTV's military channel.
http://news.yahoo.com/us-navy-hopes-stealth-ship-answers-rising-china-065329046.html
By ERIC TALMADGE | Associated Press â 10 hrs ago
<img src='http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/kg8sei4tWKaKvXPhpIyEog--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD00MDY7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/c6e6147db2108d0f110f6a70670002f0.jpg'>
But at more than $3 billion a pop, critics say the new DDG-1000 destroyer sucks away funds that could be better used to bolster a thinly stretched conventional fleet.
But the destroyers' $3.1 billion price tag, which is about twice the cost of the current destroyers and balloons to $7 billion each when research and development is added in, nearly sank it in Congress. Though the Navy originally wanted 32 of them, that was cut to 24, then seven.
Now, just three are in the works.
They point to the problem-ridden F-22 stealth jet fighter, which was hailed as the most advanced fighter ever built but was cut short because of prohibitive costs.
Its successor, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, has swelled up into the most expensive procurement program in Defense Department history.
One outspoken admiral in China has scoffed that all it would take to sink the high-tech American ship is an armada of explosive-laden fishing boats.
Rear Adm. Zhang Zhaozhong, an outspoken commentator affiliated with China's National Defense University, scoffed at the hype surrounding the ship, saying that despite its high-tech design it could be overwhelmed by a swarm of fishing boats laden with explosives. If enough boats were mobilized some could get through to blow a hole in its hull, he said.
"It would be a goner," he said recently on state broadcaster CCTV's military channel.
http://news.yahoo.com/us-navy-hopes-stealth-ship-answers-rising-china-065329046.html
By ERIC TALMADGE | Associated Press â 10 hrs ago
<img src='http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/kg8sei4tWKaKvXPhpIyEog--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD00MDY7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/c6e6147db2108d0f110f6a70670002f0.jpg'>
