Construction starts on two more US Navy destroyers
Bath Iron Works (BIW) has begun fabrication of the US Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Harvey C. Barnum Jr. (DDG 124), the US Navy announced on 17 May.
On 7 May, 2018, Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) marked the start of construction works on the future USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125) in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The two milestones signify the first 100t of steel being cut for the warships.
The US Navy stated that Jack H. Lucas will be the first Arleigh Burke class destroyer built in the Flight III configuration with improved capability and capacity to perform anti-air warfare and ballistic missile defence (BMD) in support of the integrated air and missile defence mission (IAMD).
DDG 124 and DDG-125 are Aegis baseline 9 and baseline 10 IAMD destroyers respectively with significant capabilities against modern air warfare and BMD threats.
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