Replacing the proposed new destroyer with a much larger combatant raises a separate question about the Arleigh Burke workhorse. The class is described in terms of a 1970s concept, an established 1980s design, and the ships of the 1990s. Repeated modernization has kept it useful, but the warning concerns how much additional equipment the original architecture can absorb. The comparison is with a car platform that eventually needs a fresh design because new requirements no longer fit. Enthusiasm for a successful existing class does not settle that problem.
Notable Point · 14:56-15:53
A battleship cannot solve the Arleigh Burke replacement problem
The proposed change to the destroyer program prompts a warning about how much more equipment the original Arleigh Burke architecture can absorb.