Navy CG(X) Cruiser Program: Background, Oversight Issues, and Options for Congress. Updated September 18, 2009

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Navy CG(X) Cruiser Program: Background, Oversight Issues, and Options for Congress. Updated September 18, 2009

R. O'Rourke

The Navy is currently developing technologies and studying design options for a planned new cruiser called the CG(X). The Navy wants to procure CG(X)s as replacements for its 22 Ticonderoga (CG-47) class Aegis cruisers, which are projected to reach their retirement age of 35 years between 2021 and 2029. The Navy wants CG(X)s to be highly capable ships, particularly in the areas of anti-air warfare (AAW) and ballistic missile defense (BMD). The Navy's FY2009 budget called for procuring the first CG(X) in FY2011. Beginning in late- 2008, however, it was reported that the Navy had decided to defer the procurement of the first CG(X) by several years, to about FY2017. Consistent with these press reports, on April 6, 2009, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced-as part of a series of decisions concerning the Department of Defense's (DOD's) proposed FY2010 defense budget-a decision to 'delay the CG-X next generation cruiser program to revisit both the requirements and acquisition strategy' for the program. The Navy's proposed FY2010 budget defers procurement of the first CG(X) beyond FY2015 and requests $340 million in research and development funding for the CG(X) program. Under the FY2009 budget, the Navy planned to procure 19 CG(X)s. In February 2009, however, it was reported that the Navy was considering reducing the planned total of CG(X)s to eight. The Navy has not yet announced a preferred design concept for the CG(X). The Navy originally intended to use the design of its new DDG-1000 destroyer as the basis for the CG(X) design, but this no longer appears to be the Navy's preferred approach.