There's a chance the world's most advanced destroyer -- the strikingly shaped USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) -- will enter combat service with the U.S. Navy in mid-2018 without any ammunition for the two 155 mm guns in its Advanced Gun System (AGS).

Latest reports from the U.S. defense community say the Navy is balking at the eye-popping $800,000 price tag for each of the Long Range Land-Attack Projectiles (LRLAP) the 155 mm guns are to fire. The Navy is now moving to cancel its order for the LRLAP.

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But the $800,000 cost isn't what really bothers the Navy. It's that this price is at the low-end of estimates as to how much each LRLAP might really cost. Were the LRLAP to go into mass production today, the price tag will balloon to over $1 million per round.

"That's probably low," said a Navy official about the $800,000 cost. "That's what the acquisition community wanted to get it down to."

The official said there was no sense Lockheed Martin (which will produce LRLAP) was "overcharging or anything."

Analysts said the astounding cost of each round is due to simple economics. The Navy intended to buy thousands of LRLAP rounds but based its cost per round on there being a fleet of 28 Zumwalts.

But the Navy grossly underestimated the price of a new destroyer outfitted with cutting edge technology like no other on any destroyer ever built. The massive cost of producing these destroyers forced the Navy to cut the number of Zumwalts to seven and then to three.

And absent economies of scale, this meant the cost of producing the unique 155 mm ammunition for the Zumwalts was bound to zoom, which it has. The Zumwalt is the only destroyer armed with the AGS. Each of the three Zumwalts will cost $4.5 billion.

"We were going to buy thousands of these rounds," said another Navy official. "But (the fewer) quantities of ships killed the affordable round."

A precision guided munition made by Lockheed Martin, LRLAP is a land bombardment round that would have been fired in support of U.S. Marines storming ashore on enemy territory. It can precisely hit land targets almost 130 km distant.

LRLAP is the only munition designed to be fired from the AGS. It's also the only round that fits into the AGS' automated magazine and handling system. Each of the three Zumwalts will carry two of the guns -- the largest weapons to be designed for and fitted on a warship since World War II.

The U.S. Navy hasn't yet cancelled LRLAP but is reported to be seriously considering three or four more affordable replacement rounds.

"We are looking at multiple different rounds for that gun," said the Navy official.

He noted that "three or four different rounds" are being considered. There include the U.S. Army's 155 mm Excalibur munition (which is GPS-guided shell) and the 155 mm Hyper Velocity Projectile (HVP), a project under development by the Office of Naval Research.

"There are multiple companies that have looked at alternatives to get the cost down and use that delivery system," said the Navy official.

The Navy originally intended to use HVPs as missile-killing ammunition for its conventional naval guns.

Studies by the Department of Defense have revealed that HVPs fired from 5 inch (127 mm) Mk-45 guns aboard Navy warships such as the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers and the 155 mm guns aboard the Zumwalt-class destroyers can neutralize anti-ship missile salvoes.

TagsUSS Zumwalt, Long Range Land-Attack Projectile, LRLAP, U.S. Navy, Excalibur munition, Hyper Velocity Projectile, HVP