Surface Navy 2022: HII achieves Aegis light-off for destroyer Jack H Lucas

The Ingalls Shipbuilding division of Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) reported on 12 January that it had reached the successful Aegis light-off milestone on the US Navy's (USN's) first Flight III Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Jack H Lucas (DDG 125).

This milestone marks the beginning of combat system testing as shipbuilders ready the ship for propulsion tests, George Nungesser, vice-president, Program Management at Ingalls Shipbuilding, said on 12 January at a media roundtable during the Surface Navy Association National Symposium, which started on 11 January in Arlington, Virginia.

The centrepiece of the new Flight III combat system is the new AN/SPY-6(V)1 Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR). To better prepare for working with the new equipment, Ingalls Shipbuilding changed its model for Jack H Lucas , Nungesser added.

“SPY-6 is the new toy on the ship,” he pointed out. “We lit off SPY-6 about 12 weeks earlier than we have for Flight IIA [Arleigh Burke-class destroyers], to make sure we had time.”

Before lighting off the radar and combat system, shipbuilders ensure the proper hookups for power, water, and cooling, he noted.

Lucas features other new systems that need extra attention, Nungesser pointed out. “The electrical plant is much more complex than it is on the Flight IIA,” he said.

The ship also converts to a mist firefighting system, an effort that was just completed. “We worked hard on getting the water mist done,” he added, noting extra work began during the ship's design.

Shipbuilders, navy officials, and other industry partners met early and often to discuss possible issues with the ship, he said. “The transparency of getting risk on the table, it gets you to a much better place to make the schedule.”