A future U.S. destroyer with cruiser displacement

Will the U.S. Navy's next major combatant be a cruiser, a destroyer, or a combination?

The 2021 prediction favors the destroyer label for a ship of roughly 14,000 to 18,000 tons with a large vertical-launch battery.

The forecast favors a new ship called a destroyer even at a projected displacement of 14,000 to 18,000 tons. A substantial vertical-launch battery would give it the weight of armament expected from a first-rate surface combatant. Its name would therefore reveal less than its size and combat systems. Both the displacement and classification are predictions made in 2021.