According to a PR published by the U.S. Navy on March 10, 2022, the keel of future USS Ted Stevens (DDG 128), the 78th Arleigh Burke-class ship was ceremonially laid at Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding.
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Future Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Ted Stevens(Picture source: U.S. Navy)
The contemporary keel-laying ceremony represents the joining together of a ship’s modular components at the land level. The keel is authenticated with the ship sponsors’ initials etched into a ceremonial keel plate as part of the ceremony.
The DDG 51 Flight III upgrade is centered on the AN/SPY-6(V)1 Air and Missile Defense Radar and incorporates upgrades to the electrical power and cooling capacity plus additional associated changes to provide greatly enhanced warfighting capability to the fleet. Flight III is the latest Flight upgrade in the more than 30-year history of the class, building on the proud legacy of Flight I, II, and IIA ships before it.
HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding is also in production on the future USS Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG 123), USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125), USS Jeremiah Denton (DDG 129), and USS George M. Neal (DDG 131).
The AMDR (Air and Missile Defense Radar, now officially named AN/SPY-6) is an active electronically scanned array air and missile defense active electronically scanned array 3D radar under development for the United States Navy (USN).
It will provide integrated air and missile defense, and even periscope detection, for Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyers; variants are under development for retrofitting Flight IIA Arleigh Burkes.
