The Flight III Burke and the cost of surface-fleet risk aversion

The criticism of Flight III is that the Burke hull has reached the limits of its expansion while retaining too much of the earlier internal arrangement. A Burke successor based on a larger Zumwalt-derived hull is proposed as an alternative. Surface-ship procurement is judged more risk averse than aircraft development, partly because recent programs have disappointed. Cutting the Zumwalt order spread development costs over only three ships, worsening the apparent cost of each hull. The objection to reusing its design is political: the program's reputation and the Advanced Gun System controversy make congressional approval difficult even if useful engineering could be retained.