U.S. Navy: Sometimes, Good Enough Is Better

Better is the enemy of good enough. That motto reportedly hung on the office wall of Admiral S. G. Goshkov, long-serving Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Navy. Goshkov realized that, never having enough funds for all his programs, he should not expend resources on buying "better" when a weapon was "good enough." Rather, he should focus available resources on new programs that would significantly increase warfare capabilities.

In today's environment, one could argue that rather than making marginal improvements to combat systems, Navy resources should be go to new and especially transformational programsthose that contribute to a revolution at sea, not an evolution. This strategy is particularly significant in view of the service's constrained resources and large number of ongoing programs, including the CVN-78 advanced aircraft carrier, Virginia (SSN-774)-class attack submarine, CG(X) missile/ballistic missile defense cruiser, DD(X) advanced destroyer, littoral combat ship, LHA(R) amphibious ship, LPD amphibious dock, and AKE replenishment ship. All are expensive in comparison to their predecessors, and current construction rates cannot rebuild the fleet to the 375 ships called for by Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Vern Clark.

Thus, it appears judicious to "stick with" good systems and not to seek those that are costly but only marginally better. Research-and-development dollars should be spent on revolutionary efforts, ones that will change the nature of warfare.

One example of "better" is the advanced vertical-launch system (AVLS) proposed for installation in the DD(X). Sometimes called the peripheral VLS, AVLS is intended to launch Tomahawk cruise missiles, Standard SM-2 surface-to-air missiles, and the evolved Sea Sparrow point-defense missile. It differs from the traditional vertical-launch system in having four-cell modules installed along the perimeter of the ship's deck rather than in the standard, centrally placed VLS battery. According to the AVLS development team of Northrop Grumman, United Defense, and Raytheon, this arrangement reduces the ship's vulnerability to a single missile, shell, or bomb hit.

The current VLS arrangement in U.S. Navy ships-designated Mk 41-features a grouping of 8 modules in centerline batteries of 32 or 64 missile cells. These already have demonstrated their ability to launch Tomahawk, Standard SM-2 and SM-3 missiles, as well as the evolved Sea Sparrow missile. Ten allied navies have installed variants of the Mk 41 VLS in their warships.

Thus, retaining the Mk 41 appears logical in the context of employing the existing missile inventory, as well as the new SM-3, a ballistic-missile intercept variant. That weapon, which achieved its fourth successful intercept test on 11 December 2003, is planned for installation in several Aegis ships.

But perhaps the most important reason for keeping the Mk 41 launchers in the DD(X) and probably the CG(X) is the modular, centerline footprint of the launcher package. The Mk 41 was developed specifically to replace the Mk 26 missile launcher and 88-round missile magazine in Aegis cruisers. Twentytwo of 27 Ticonderoga (CG-47)-class ships have the Mk 41 VLS with 61-cell launchers forward and aft in place of Mk 26 systems.¹ Subsequently, 61-cell launchers were installed forward in 24 destroyers of the Spruance (DD-963) class, replacing the antisubmarine rocket "box" launcher and magazine.

This modular replacement provides the potential for the Mk 41 VLS battery to be replaced by a more-advanced weapons "module," such as the electromagnetic rail gun, or a laser weapon system.² These weapons are practical for the electric-drive DD(X) and CG(X). This could not be done with the AVLS, which will have rows of missiles cells along the sides of the ship.

The AVLS offers some advantages over the conventional VLS arrangement, primarily a slightly larger launch cell and, reportedly, enhanced survivability against a missile hit. With respect to the latter, combat experience and the attack on the Stark (FFG-37) in 1987, as well as numerous missile trials, demonstrate that even a single missile hit almost always will cripple if not sink a warship. The value of peripheral installations is accordingly of questionable value with respect to enhancing ship survivability in the opinion of some Navy officials.

The Mk 41 VLS has the advantages of having been tested for more than a decade, being compatible with all existing U.S. vertical-launch weapons, being in production and in the inventory, with a complete training and support infrastructure, and being suitable for modular replacement with future weapon systems that are truly transformational.