The U.S. Navy has cleared a service life extension for four Arleigh Burke-class destroyers stationed in Virginia and Japan.
The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Surface Warfare Division, extended the service life of the USS Ramage and USS Benfold by five years, and the USS Mitscher and USS Milius by four years, the service branch announced Wednesday.
“These service life extensions demonstrate the Navy’s commitment to ensuring the surface fleet has the right capability and capacity,” said Rear Adm. Fred Pyle, director of Surface Warfare (N96).
The Ramage and Mitscher are homeported in Norfolk, Virginia. The former will stay in active duty until fiscal year 2035, while the latter will be in service until FY 2034. The Benfold and Milius are stationed in Yokosuka, Japan, and will be reviewed again in 2036 and 2035, respectively.
“These extensions align to Secretary of the Navy Del Toro’s commitment to Congress during the FY-24 posture hearings to analyze service life on a hull-by-hull basis and extend the correct ships in order to be good stewards of resources invested in the U.S. Navy by the American people,” Pyle said.
Each of the guided-missile destroyers underwent Aegis baseline modernization upgrades as part of the DDG modernization initiative.
This approval was announced a day after the Navy awarded multiyear procurement contracts for the construction of nine DDG 51 Arleigh Burke-class ships in Flight III configuration. The projects were granted to HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division and General Dynamics’ Bath Iron Works business.