Off the Scopes
April 30th, 2002 - 12:25 am
Northrop Grumman will be building stealthy ships for the US Navy.
Smaller, and able to work closer to shore, the new DD-21 (destroyer) program vessels (later to include cruisers) will also be optimized for getting special forces soldiers ashore.
Pretty cool, and you can see prototype drawings here and here.
Actually, it’s called DD-X. DD-21 was a money pit for years, they kept adding new features until it was unworkable budget and technologywise. Somebody (rummy?) finally had the balls to kill the program, even though we’d spent a bundle on it.
This contract is only to produce a design. The contract to actually build them will be up for bid in 2005.
If you look at some of our current ships you will discover that they alreay have some stelth built into them.
They have a angled bow on them to deflect the radar.
Just curious…but has anyone noticed the resemblance to Ol’ Ironsides back in the Civil War *ahemwarbetweenthestates* days?