Why Was America’s Secret Ship Project Shelved?

Today, US defense spending is Although it reaches dazzling numbers Not every investment bears the expected fruits. Especially projects that push the highest limits of technology are both exciting and big risks carrying. Zumwalt class destroyers were one of such projects.

Privacy, technological superiority and Bringing a new breath to naval warfare The huge ships that set out with the promise would be a turning point for the US Navy. However, as with every great story, unexpected difficulties were encountered.

The secret project, developed by the American manufacturer Lockheed Skunk Works, was hidden from the public in the early 90s.

The stealth ship was actually the stealth bomber of the seas and It was called Sea Shadow. The ship’s emergence began with an incident during a chance photo shoot.

Lockheed team taking a photo of one of their newly designed stealth planes they use sonar focusing camera He realized that he had failed to detect the plane.

The tests carried out showed that traditional marine vehicles risk of detection by sonar However, the use of this technology under the sea could not provide the expected efficiency.

The USA reached a record level by increasing its defense budget to 816.7 billion dollars in 2022.

US Navy developed in Sea Shadow stealth (low visibility) He planned to use his technology on Zumwalt-class destroyers, but things did not go exactly as planned.

Part of the huge budget was allocated to Zumwalt-class destroyers. The ships are advanced missiles that are difficult to detect by enemy radars. with stealth technology would be equipped. The project is contrary to expectations 22 billion dollars It was stopped after it was spent.

Destroyers, technologically superior However, it was a project whose costs were constantly increasing. While the cost of each ship was initially calculated as 1.34 billion dollars, this number was later increased. to 7 billion dollars rose.

According to the Nunn-McCurdy Law If the budget increases by more than 50% and the increase is not necessary for national security, projects can be canceled. The law was one of the most important factors that brought the end of the Zumwalt project.

The US Navy stated that the need for Zumwalt-class destroyers has decreased as the global threat perception has changed.

Especially Ballistic missiles developed by China The Zumwalts were determined to be vulnerable and encountered a number of technical problems.

Additionally, the stealth features of the ships did not have the expected effect. Long range radar systems, ships under certain conditions In other words, the technology they developed could not fully produce the desired effect.

The vehicle was supposed to reduce the radar cross-section and take it to the extreme, but it could not fully achieve this.

USS Zumwalt for radars invisible as said It couldn’t happen. Long-range over-the-horizon radar systems are known to be able to detect stealth ships under the right conditions, which makes the vehicle stealth ability was decreasing even more. As a matter of fact, the project was terminated before it was fully implemented.

Although the project failed, billions of dollars were spent What kind of crazy figures would we see if it were implemented? We can’t even guess.

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