US Navy Build Programs Face Budget Pressure
Ship construction programs move ahead, but it’s not smooth sailing. Navies and Coast Guards everywhere face budgetary pressure, even in the U.S. which has the largest Navy in the world. The balance between desire for capacity and capability and pressure for affordability has never been more acute with the precarious budgetary issues presented by declining defense budgets, sequestration, continuing resolutions and government shutdowns. Even so, there are ongoing major construction efforts to include large nuclear aircraft carriers and submarines…
The Navy’s Battlewagon of the 21st Century
It is the newest and most transformational warship ever built, and yet it has also had the longest gestation period. Whether you call it new or old, you have to call it different. The pedigree for DDG 1000 is not from the Spruance or Arleigh Burke class of guided missile destroyers, but rather it comes from the SC-21 (Surface Combatant for the 21st century) concept from 1994. Like DDG 1000, SC-21 was not about anti-air warfare. It was all about strike. SC-21, along with the Maritime Fire Support Demonstrator (MFSD) “arsenal ship” concept…
ZUMWALT: Maritime Reporter's 'Great Ship' of 2013
It is the newest and most transformational warship ever built, and yet it has also had the longest gestation period. Whether you call it new or old, you have to call it different. The pedigree for DDG 1000 is not from the Spruance or Arleigh Burke class of guided missile destroyers, but rather it comes from the SC-21 (Surface Combatant for the 21st century) concept from 1994. Like DDG 1000, SC-21 was not about anti-air warfare. It was all about strike. SC-21, along with the Maritime Fire Support Demonstrator (MFSD) “arsenal ship” concept…
Black Sea Terminal Operator Continues Development Program
NUTEP, a container terminal operator in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, completed the latest phase of its ambitious port development program with the upgrade of its railway facilities there. The company has removed the original rail lines, constructed a new yard at the rear of the terminal and increased overall block-train capacity at the terminal to 30 trains – about 112 TEU each – a month. The total length of the railway lines is now more than 4km and, at 425m each, the two new loading sidings allow NUTEP to handle two block-trains a day.
First Electronic Modular Enclosure Delivered
Raytheon Company (NYSE:RTN) delivered the first Electronic Modular Enclosure (EME) for the Zumwalt-class destroyer (DDG 1000) to the U.S. Navy. EMEs are large subsystem assemblies that efficiently package the shock mitigation, electromagnetic interference protection, thermal conditioning, security and vibration isolation for commercial off-the-shelf electronics integrated inside. The EME unit, which houses ruggedized and commercial electronic equipment for the ship's external communications, was shipped from Raytheon's facility in Largo, Fla., to Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Miss. The EME will be integrated into DDG 1000's advanced composite deckhouse. There are 16 EMEs on each Zumwalt destroyer, and each unit contains more than 235 individual electronics cabinets.
