{"id":59301,"date":"2018-04-19T21:07:29","date_gmt":"2018-04-19T21:07:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/04\/19\/advanced-gun-system-was-holding-back-the-navys-new-stealth-destroyer\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:16:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:16:56","slug":"advanced-gun-system-was-holding-back-the-navys-new-stealth-destroyer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2018\/04\/19\/advanced-gun-system-was-holding-back-the-navys-new-stealth-destroyer\/","title":{"rendered":"Advanced Gun System was holding back the Navy\u2019s new stealth destroyer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Development issues with the Navy\u2019s Advanced Gun System, destined to be one of the main armaments of DDG-1000, prompted the Navy to change Zumwalt into a ship killer<\/a>, the Navy\u2019s top requirements officers said Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Navy announced in February in budget justification documents that it intended to integrate Raytheon\u2019s SM-6 missile<\/a> and was changing the mission from a land-attack platform to a ship killer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee\u2019s seapower subcommittee, Vice Adm. Bill Merz told senators that the slow development of the AGS prompted the change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AGS, in conjunction with the Long-Range Land Attack Projectile, was supposed to fire a round more than 80 nautical miles. The Navy canceled the projectile after truncating the total Zumwalt-class buy to three ships pushed the cost per round up to more than $800,000 per round. Furthermore, the system was also failing to achieve the range it wanted out of the system, Merz said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven at the high cost, we still weren\u2019t really getting what we had asked for,\u201d he said. \u201cSo what we\u2019ve elected to do is to separate the gun effort from the ship effort because we really got to the point where now we\u2019re holding up the ship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t