Microsoft joins Blue team for DD 21 competition

Sea Power, Dec 2000

One of the two industry teams competing for the Zumwalt-class DD 21 landattack destroyer program has selected Microsoft Federal Systems to develop information technology software for the team's warship design. Microsoft has joined the DD 21 Blue Team, which is led by Bath Iron Works (BIW)-a General Dynamics company-and Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics & Surveillance Systems.

Blue Team officials said that Microsoft "will work with the Blue Team to identify best practices in software development and military solutions to support the ship's information infrastructure."

"The addition of Microsoft as a Blue Team partner will allow us to leverage software and information technology marketplace trends, ensuring that DD 21 will enjoy the benefit of the most modern, cost-effective computer processing software, hardware, and architecture available," said Michael B. Hughes, DD 21 program vice president for Lockheed Martin. Microsoft Federal Systems also is a member of the Lockheed Martin Integrated Warfare Systems team supporting the design and development of the, transitional aircraft carrier, CVN 77.

Hughes and Tom Bowler, vice president for strategic planning and business development at BIW, revealed some design concepts of their DD 21 proposal in an 11 October press conference. The Blue DD 21 will have more usable warfighting space-a feature made possible by the use of electric drive, they noted-than a Burke-class Aegis guided-missile destroyer, and improved crew habitability. The ship the Blue Team proposes is designed to have a range of between 6,000 and 9,000 miles, will be capable of supporting SH-60R helicopters and VTUAVs (vertical takeoff unmanned aerial vehicles), and will be able to land MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft.

They said the Blue Team is aiming for a crew size of 95 personnel, although cost and performance tradeoffs allow a threshold of 150 personnel. "This is the first time this systems integration approach has been taken and is absolutely essential to reduce manning," Bowler said. He said that the Blue Team will deliver a "virtual prototype" of its design that the Navy "can use to run its own simulation. ... This ship has been modeled more than any other system in the history of man."

The DD 21 program requires that the cost per ship not exceed $750 million (in fiscal year 1996 dollars) per ship from the fifth production ship onward. "Cost is very, very important," Bowler said, commenting on the program's extremely tight cost constraints.