Navy wants new destroyer with lasers, hypersonic missiles

By DAVID SHARP
Associated Press

BATH, Maine (AP) — The Navy is getting ready to turn the chapter on its workhorse destroyer, the Arleigh Burke, which went into production more than 30 years ago. The Navy has awarded design contracts on a future ship that would be equipped with lasers and hypersonic missiles. The stakes are high when it comes to a replacement for the backbone of the fleet at a time when China’s numerical advantage becomes greater each year. The Navy has vowed that it won’t repeat recent shipbuilding debacles when it rushed production and crammed too much new tech into ships, causing delays and cost overruns.