US Navy Has Not Assessed Undersea Weapon Threat to Zumwalt Destroyers - Report

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The US Navy has still not carried out any assessment of threats by undersea weapons or other hostile attackers to its three operational Zumwalt-class destroyers, the Office of the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) said in a report.

"(T)he Navy has not yet funded or planned an adequate ship survivability assessment against underwater threat weapons, to include a demonstration of residual mission capability after such engagements, through a full ship shock trial," the report said on Friday.

The Navy is currently evaluating options for completion of the equipment shock qualification program and conduct of an alternative to shock trial that would sufficiently assess the risk to the warfighter from associated weapon events, the report noted.

However, "The Navy has not yet updated vulnerability and recoverability M&S [modeling and simulation] meant to support the LFT&E [Live Fire Test and Evaluation] survivability assessment of the Zumwalt class to reflect the ship as built," it said.

In its previous Fiscal Year (FY22) Annual Report, the DOT&E recommended that the Navy work to develop an updated M&S strategy that would include survivability model updates, but so far, the Navy has not done so, the report said.