Capability upgrade: FDNF-E builds new muscle with destroyer rotations

摘要

In April 2020 the US Navy's (USN's)DDG51 Flight IIA Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Roosevelt replaced its Flight I sister USS Carney to become the first Flight IIA ship homeported in Rota, Spain, under the USN's Forward-Deployed Naval Forces - Europe (FDNF-E) programme. A year on, the navy has just completed a second rotation, with USS Arleigh Burke arriving on 11 April to relieve the Flight Ⅱ ship USS Donald Cook. While Arleigh Burke is a Flight Ⅰ ship, it has been extensively overhauled and upgraded to Aegis Baseline 9 standard, bringing its situational awareness, fire control and connectivity up to the same level as Roosevelt. That said, it lacks the embarked helicopter of the Flight IIA (Flight Ⅰ ships have no hangar).