Navy Pushes DDX

War at Sea has moved to the littorals, and with its planned DDX destroyer the US Navy is preparing to continue the Cold War. This giant $3.5 billion dollar battle cruiser will apparently be used to interdict pirates in wooden dhows, or motor boats armed with explosives in port. This is the nature of the enemy which we are facing, unless you count the heir to the old Soviet Fleet, the Chinese Navy. This country is purchasing million dollar submarines, and hundred thousand dollar cruise missiles from our old foes to deal with the multi-billion dollar US buildup. Weaker navies like North Korea and Iran can buy surplus Russia subs for a few $100 thousand, and armed them with missiles and torpedoes to deal with our handful of DDX, which is all we can afford. Read this:

The Navy, seeking a greater role as the United States wages wars far inland, is pushing an expensive, experimental destroyer it says will be able to bomb targets well away from shore.
The Navy is trying to improve its ability to conduct fire support -- using heavy guns to assist Marines or soldiers ashore, much like land-based artillery does. The frequency of such naval fire support missions have declined during conflicts of the last half-century, and the Navy has turned to expensive cruise missiles instead of guns to hit targets farther inland.

and:

The first DD(X) is projected to cost $3.3 billion, but sister ships would be cheaper, the Navy says. Since 2004, however, the Navy's estimated costs per ship have gone up almost 50 percent for ships built after the first of their class, the Congressional Research Service says. One proposal before Congress would cap the price per ship at $1.7 billion, forcing the Navy to redesign the DD(X) to something smaller and probably less capable. The Navy also has reduced the number it wants to buy, from between 16 to 24 down to between eight and 12, prompting fears that the military won't give shipyards enough work and force one to close, the congressional researchers reported recently.

There's good news: As I stated in a previous post, the Navy intends to finally adhere to it’s From The Sea... strategy, in place since 1992, for building a real littoral navy. The DDX, which is to the Navy as the F/A-22 fighter is to the Air Force, is still going ahead, despite all logic to the contrary.