Ship Prel Design & Feasibility Studies

The Guided Missile Battleship (BBG(X)) program supports the expansion and modernization of the Nation's large surface combatant fleet, reinforcing maritime dominance. The Battleship is based on the validated requirement for high-end surface capability directly supporting the Navy Warfighting Concept (NWC) and Expanded Maritime Maneuver (EMM) that cannot be met by current fleet assets. Adding capability at the highest end of the Golden Fleet high-low mix, the Battleship's primary role is to deliver high-volume, long-range offensive fires and serve as a robust, survivable forward command and control platform. The expanded size and energy density of the new Battleship provide critical advantages for future naval warfare, offering a future-proof platform with distinct capabilities that enhance deterrence. Its advanced systems will enable true long-range strike with hypersonic weapons housed in new, larger vertical launch systems. Vastly increased power generation, managed by a sophisticated integrated power system with high-capacity energy storage, will support mission-critical directed energy weapons like high-output lasers and electromagnetic railguns, reducing reliance on costly single-use munitions. Furthermore, its advanced naval gunfire offers cost-effective options for strike and defense, and its capacity to embark a fleet command staff enhances survivability by putting commanders closer to the fight. As a flexible command-and-control platform for both manned and unmanned platforms, including the Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel (MUSV), the Battleship can lead a Surface Action Group, integrate with a Carrier Strike Group, or operate autonomously to secure critical sea lanes. To overcome the capacity limits of the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer and the capability compromises of the planned DDG(X), the Battleship is designed specifically to accommodate these advanced weapon systems. The ship's architecture provides the foundational space, weight, power, and cooling for five large weapon stations, enabling the integration of large-format missile launchers, railguns, and high-energy lasers that cannot be incorporated within legacy platforms. The design ensures room for future technological advancements and sends an unmistakable signal of American resolve, inspiring confidence in allies and fear in adversaries.

The Next Generation Oceanographic Survey Ship (T-AGS Next) will provide the Navy with persistent, globally deployable oceanographic survey capability required to support undersea warfare, mine warfare, seabed warfare, safe navigation, and environmental intelligence. The platform will collect, process, and disseminate high-resolution bathymetric, hydrographic, geophysical, acoustic, and oceanographic data in support of fleet operations and joint force requirements. T-AGS Next will replace aging T-AGS 60 Pathfinder Class oceanographic survey ships reaching the end of their service lives in the 2030s. The new capability will be designed to operate worldwide and will integrate manned and unmanned survey systems to increase survey speed, coverage, and persistence. The ship will function as a mothership for unmanned underwater, surface, and airborne survey vehicles and will support rapid data processing and dissemination to fleet and joint users. The program will emphasize leveraging existing ship designs, commercial shipbuilding practices, and mature mission systems in order to rapidly deliver oceanographic survey capability while minimizing development risk and controlling lifecycle cost. RDT&E funding supports global market research analysis and capability trade studies for the Next Generation Oceanographic Survey Ship (T-AGS Next). This effort will evaluate commercially available ship designs, mature technologies, and existing oceanographic survey platforms in order to identify cost-effective solutions capable of meeting Navy oceanographic survey requirements. Activities will assess the integration of existing sensor suites, unmanned systems, and mission system architectures while aligning design options with cost and schedule constraints. Results of this effort will inform the acquisition strategy and support transition to detail design and construction in the Shipbuilding and Conversion, Navy appropriation.

Project 3389 - Develops enabling technologies for future and in-service afloat operational logistics and integrated supply systems; defines integrated combat logistics force and combatant logistics requirements; and conducts cooperative initiatives with acquisition programs, program sponsors, engineering managers, the Navy science and technology community, and Fleet customers. Operational Logistics Integration R&D (OPLOG) develops new logistics platforms, integrated cross-platform (i.e., applicable to more than one ship class/type) operational logistics and operational energy technologies and capabilities, as well as draft acquisition and operations policy ensuring future Naval systems leverage emerging logistic capabilities and technologies to provide operationally effective and efficient logistics delivery for both peacetime and wartime contested environments. Though the operational logistics family of systems touches all aspects of Naval presence and power projection, operational logistics capability and system interfaces typically have been left to individual acquisition programs to develop and resolve. Technology development is necessary to mitigate technological and operational risk before ship acquisition programs accept new technologies. This project provides a foundation for the transition and systems development of science & technology initiatives evolving from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Power & Energy Future Naval Capabilities (FNC), Enterprise and Platform Enablers FNC, Seabasing FNC, and from other enabling Government, industry and academia concepts to the acquisition community. Thus, this project resources continued research and development of appropriate technologies with applicability to multiple acquisition programs and defines and matures performance and interface requirements for those technologies. This project continues to identify, develop, integrate, demonstrate, and transition logistics technologies to improve both the cost effectiveness of Fleet at sea logistics delivery in peacetime, as well as delivery capability effectiveness in wartime, through outreach, coordination and collaboration with industry, academia, Fleet, and Enterprise representatives.

This project provides Test and Evaluation (T&E) requirements for DDG-51 Flight III ships and efforts for the Navigation, Aviation and Hull, Mechanical & Electrical (HM&E) Cyber Enclaves Design for implementation on future new construction ships. T&E will concentrate on verifying integration and interoperability of employed technologies and systems in the DDG-51 FLT III design to achieve the mission capabilities and performance requirements as defined in the DDG-51 Flight III Capability Development Document (CDD) to reach Initial Operational Capability (IOC). T&E functions will include the evaluation of Critical Technical Parameters (CTP), Measures of Effectiveness (MOE), Measures of Suitability (MOS), and Key Performance Parameters (KPP). Funding is also planned for the execution of Developmental Testing (DT), Operational Testing (OT), Live Fire Test and Evaluation (LFT&E), and Full Ship Shock Trials (FSST). The Navigation, Aviation and Hull, Mechanical & Electrical (HM&E) Cyber Enclaves Design effort will provide a new design to physically separate Hull, Mechanical, and Electrical (HM&E) communications from Navigation communications to meet multiple DoD Directives/Instructions on Cybersecurity and Navy Joint-SYSCOM Cybersecurity Standards on Enclave management. This design will be utilized to support implementation on future new construction DDG-51 class ships.

Medium Landing Ship (LSM) is a medium-sized landing ship that enables distributed maneuver and logistics such as Distributed Maritime Operations (DMO), Littoral Operations in a Contested Environment (LOCE), and Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO), in support of the Marine Littoral Regiment (MLR). It is designed to fill the gap in capability between the Navy's large, multipurpose amphibious warfare class ships and smaller landing vessels. This ship will deploy tailored logistics, select power projection and support strike capabilities via the embarked MLR. With the authorities granted in Section 128 of the FY 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDA), the LSM program will procure an existing design to construct a Non-Developmental Vessel (NDV).

In FY26, DDG(X) program is transitioning to BBG(X) addressed in PU 0413. Modifications to the DDG(X) System Readiness Review (SRR) to meet the BBG(X) requirements to be accomplished for the completion of Concept Design and entrance into Preliminary Design.

The Navy is implementing the language in the Joint Explanatory Statement accompanying Public Law 117-328, the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act, to establish an information repository for the collection of supplier information that can be used for continuous data analysis and program management activities. By partnering with commercial companies, the Navy can accelerate assessment of Navy supply chain health and risk in order to resolve enterprise level (or multi-community) risks to improve the production, delivery and sustainment of ship systems. Additionally. the Navy has established supplier information repositories to understand relationships and potential risk across supply chains for product lines and expanded efforts to manage data on workforce and forecast demand. and identify alternative sources of domestic supply. Supply chain illumination is the ability to highlight and understand which companies are providing and producing the piece parts, components and services that are integrated into the end items and services purchased by the Navy. The supply chain illumination and mapping tools also provide real-time health and risk assessment monitoring, highlighting events such as severe weather impacts, data breaches, and Foreign Ownership, Control, and Influence (FOCI).