Technological advances have improved the capability of modern destroyers culminating in the Arleigh Burke (DDG 51 ... The first Flight IIA, USS Oscar Austin, was commissioned in August 2000.

However, sailors aboard USS Stockdale (DDG-106) used their destroyer’s five-inch mounted gun to take down a Houthi uncrewed aerial vehicle at the tail end of 2024. As described by Vice Adm.

It had been previously reported that DDG-106, operating with USS O’Kane (DDG-77)—another Arleigh Burke-class destroyer—in the Gulf of Aden in early December also shot down multiple Houthi ...

It's no wonder that the Navy's newest Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer was named the USS Robert Kerrey in his honor, as Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro announced on Jan. 4, 2025.

The Navy wants to buy its first next-generation guided missile destroyer by 2032, but first there are there are some details that need to be hammered out for replacing the trusty Arleigh Burke ...