By Mallory Shelbourne
[USNI] The Navy on Tuesday formally took delivery of the first Flight III Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer from HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding.
Jack H. Lucas (DDG-125) delivered to the Navy after wrapping up acceptance trials in May in the Gulf of Mexico.
“On DDG-125, with the new combat system, new Spy-6 radar, we had four trials at sea to demonstrate the requirements of the ship and the mission capability of the ship,” George Nungesser, the vice president of program management for Ingalls, told reporters Tuesday.
Jack H. Lucas is the first ship that will field Raytheon’s new AN/SPY-6 Air and Missile Defense Radar, as well as an updated Aegis Combat System. While an O-5 commands the older Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, an O-6 will command the Flight IIIs, which will assume the air defense mission in carrier strike groups once the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers the Navy phase out of the fleet.
The destroyer will remain at the shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss., for approximately 120 days after delivery, allowing the crew to move onto the ship in a few weeks as Ingalls finishes work on trial cards from the Navy, Nungesser said by phone to reporters at the annual Modern Day Marine conference.
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