The Navy plans to strip four Ticonderoga-class cruisers of their ballistic missile defense capability during a long-term, phased modernization of half the fleet, leaving all of these ships without the ability to defend against ballistic missile threats. Rear Adm. Peter Fanta, the Navy's surface warfare director in the office of the chief of naval operations (N96), told Inside the Navy after an April 8 roundtable at the Pentagon that the combat systems upgrades planned for the cruisers as part...
