DD(X) Costs

What drives the cost of the DD(X)?
Based on the article in the current USNI Proceedings, the recurring cost
(not the first or second article) will likely run in the multiple billions.
For a largish destroyer. One without an area air defense mission or system.

DD(X) has all the things the surface navy wants in a warship: stealthy hull,
electric drive, conformal, integrated aperature antennas, modern guns, lots
of automation for reduced manning. I can understand an stratospheric price
for the first couple of ships, given all the new systems but if the
recurring price is anything like what's reported, then the architects should
be fired. Fired for picking impossibly expensive systems for inclusion in
the design.

The stealthy hull shouldn't be expensive on a recurring basis. Steel is in
the end, pretty cheap.

Automation based on COTS-derived LANs, routers and workstations should be
manageable in cost. How about software? No recurring costs beyond
maintenance.

The electric drive may be expensive and the active, shared aperature phased
arrays definitely are.

What about the guns? The guns themselves should be fairly inexpensive but
the magazine systems, elevators and loaders may not. The lengthened VLS
shouldn't be hugely expensive.

The current price tag is unsupportable. Therefore a design-to-cost exercise
is essential


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