Navy Secretary Winter: Next-generation cruiser may be nuclear powered

Above: A Ticonderoga class Aegis Cruiser. Left: Called the first 'stealth cruiser', the CG(X) will replace the Ticonderoga cruisers. Still in the design stage, it will provide an “umbrella” of air and missile defense and be able to track and engage ballistic missiles hundreds of miles inland.

SAN DIEGO — Aircraft carriers might not be the only nuclear-powered surface ships in the future fleet.

Navy Secretary Donald C. Winter told a San Diego audience that service officials are closely studying the possibility of nuclear power for a new class of cruisers, a strategy that has drawn some congressional interest.

“We are folding in a nuclear option, a nuclear power option, into the analysis of alternatives that’s ongoing for the next-generation cruiser, the CGX,” Winter told a May 16 breakfast meeting of the Military Affairs Council in San Diego at the Admiral Kidd Club in San Diego. Winter said the preliminary analysis of a nuclear-powered cruiser suggests the biggest power drain isn’t on keeping the ship running but in maintaining the constant operation of the large air and missile defense radar that’s planned.

Read the rest at Navy Times

Related Link:
DOD Study: Military dependence on oil 'unsustainable'

Related Link:
General Speakes: Proposed budget cut threatens military modernization

Related Link:
Report: Navy can’t afford proposed fleet

Related Link:
High Costs Lead Navy to Cancel 2nd Lockheed Coastal Vessel

Related Link:
Navy Official warns on cost overruns: 'We can't let costs continue to grow, or quite frankly, we won't have a Navy'

Related Link:
Lawmakers push for more ships than Navy can take