The Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) Flight IIA-class guided-missile destroyer Roosevelt (DDG-80) is seen with a Navy SH-60B Seahawk helicopter hovering over the fantail during the ship's third pre-delivery sea trial in the Gulf of Mexico this spring. The Roosevelt, named for both President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his wife, Eleanor, is to be delivered by Ingalls Shipbuilding to the Navy this month and is scheduled to be commissioned at Mayport, Florida, on 14 October The 9,238-ton (full load displacement) Flight IIA ships differ markedly from the 28 already-commissioned Flight I and II Burkes in having twin helicopter hangars aft flanking their after 64-cell group of Mk 41 vertical missile launchers; the two after antenna faces of the AN/SPY-ID Aegis radar system have been raised to provide a clear "view." DDG-79 through DDG-82 retain two Phalanx close-in weapon systems, but later ships are to carry ESSM (Evolved Sea Sparrow missile) surface-to-air missiles in four-packs in six of the Mk 41 cells. Starting with the Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81), the class will have the new 5-inch/62caliber Mk 45 Mod.4 gun forward; it will be capable of firing the new, 63mile-ranged ERGM (extended-range guided munition). Harpoon antiship missiles have been eliminated. Current plans call for constructing 28 Flight IIA ships, the first three of which will be completed this year and the last in 2008.
Germany's Blohm + Voss won a contract in December 1999 to build four "Project Sitron," 3,590-ton (full load displacement) MEKO A-200SAN frigates for the South African Navy—the first to be delivered in June 2004 and the fourth a year later. A variant of the MEKO-200 is one candidate for the high-endurance cutter in the U.S. Coast Guard's "Deepwater" program. The 397-foot South African version will have a top speed of 27 knots and a range of up to 7,000 nautical miles using a propulsion plant employing a General Electric LM-2500 gas turbine driving a centerline water-jet and two MTU diesels driving controllable-pitch propellers. With a crew of 92 (plus 8 air crew with two missile-equipped helicopters embarked), the ships will carry eight MM40 Exocet antiship missiles, 16 South African-developed Umkhanto surface-to-air missiles in the vertical launch group forward, a 76-mm OTOBreda gun, a twin 35-mm Denel gunmount aft, and two 20-mm cannon. Although there will be no onboard antisubmarine weapons launchers, a Thomson-CSF Kingklip hull sonar will be fitted. Most of the other sensors and the communications suite will be of South African manufacture.
The first Navy C-40A Airlifter here takes to the air for the first time on 14 April 2000 at Renton Municipal Airport, Washington. The aircraft essentially is identical to Boeing's 737-700C (Convertible) design and is to be delivered early in 2001 with the markings shown in the inset. Intended to replace the remaining 27 Naval Reserve C-9B and DC-9 transports, the C-40A will be able to carry up to 121 passengers, some 38,500 pounds of cargo on up to eight standard pallets, or a combination of up to three pallets and 70 passengers. Cruise altitude is 41,000 feet and cruise speed is Mach 0.78 to 0.82. Three other C-40As are on order, all for delivery by the end of 2001; a fifth is programmed for ordering under the fiscal year 2002 budget and a sixth under the fiscal year 2005 budget, with an eventual total of around 30 required. Boeing also is offering an armed "Multimission Maritime Aircraft" based on the proven 737-700 airframe as a replacement for the P-3 Orion; the 737-700IGW would be able to take advantage of the worldwide support available to the commercial transport version.