At one point, the IPS was supposed to be somewhat common between the Future Surface Combatant family of ships. What is the status of IPS today?
Thanks!
Status as in how is it doing on DDG-1000 or as in what are it's prospects for the future? In the former, none of the hulls have been in service long enough to really see how IPS performs, but thus far it's not waved any big red flags. As to the future, the Navy can't get its story straight about the next combatant so it's hard to nail it down. They know they need lots of power, and they view IPS as a good way to make a lot of power available in the next hull, but they won't be pinned down on anything yet. They claim they want to start buying the new combatant in 2023, so it seems a bit silly that they can't define the goal for something as basic as the general power architecture, but here we are.