Northrop Grumman Shipfitters Bobby Nettles, left, and Mac McLeod, complete the final work on a full-scale test Peripheral Vertical Launching System (PVLS) module (which contains the MK57 Vertical Launching System), one of DD(X)’s risk-reduction Engineering Development Models. Northrop Grumman’s DD(X) proposed design replaces the centralized vertical launching system (VLS) with the PVLS because of the enhancement to ship survivability. The DD(X) team’s launcher concept distributes the missile launchers in separate four-cell launcher compartments along the ship’s hull starting at the forward gun and ending just aft of mid-ship. This full-scale test article, the third one constructed by Northrop Grumman, will be sent to the Army’s testing center in Aberdeen, Maryland, to undergo a missile detonation test. This test will validate the proposed magazine protection system concept that relieves pressure from exploding ordnance and forces blast damage away from the ship.
