Upgrades to radars, sensors and more begin for several Arleigh Burke destroyers

With the Navy focused on destroyer modernization, a new effort -- DDG-51 Mod 2.0 -- is centered on overhauling aspects of Flight IIA destroyers specifically.

Radars, sensors, a combat system and cooling systems will be updated on four ships before the Navy turns to the rest of the fleet, program head Capt. Tim Moore told attendees at Wednesday’s Surface Navy Association Symposium.

Since DDG-51 Mod 2.0 began in September, the program has completed a SEWIP electronic warfare upgrade to the destroyer Pinckney (DDG-91) and plans the same for the James E. Williams (DDG-95), Chung-Hoon (DDG-93) and Halsey (DDG-97). The SEWIP Block III sensor installation is especially important right now, Moore said.

“This is an enhanced capability to provide electronic attack to complement our ES ability to the ships,” Moore continued. “This is vital to the fight that we’re doing now, what you see happening out there in the Red Sea and beyond.”

Starting in fiscal year 2029, the Navy will complete the DDG-51 Mod 2.0 update in one entire maintenance availability for two ships every year, Rear Adm. William Greene told symposium attendees Thursday.

A new component of the AEGIS combat system and new cooling units will also be installed, then the four ships will be sent out for a trial before returning to the fleet for an ultimate installation of SPY-6 radars, all part of what Moore called a “crawl effort.”

To successfully complete these upgrades, Moore said his team requires innovative acquisition processes, modernization availability and industrial base stability.

“I need the industrial base to be ready, to provide the capability and to do this effort and to provide the ships back to the fleet,” Moore added.

Surface Warfare Division Director Rear Adm. Fred Pyle praised the program during a panel Wednesday, as this initiative is “taking the capability we currently have on our Flight III -- AEGIS baseline, SEWIP Block III,” he said.

The program is still determining what the SPY-6 backfit timeline will be, and Moore declined to provide any specifics regarding upgrades for more destroyers.

“The strategy is to do multiple ships per year,” Moore said. “I’m not going to go into what that number could be right now.”