The U.S. Navy Will Soon Be Completing A Design Review Of Five Proposed Frigate Designs

Warzone/The Drive: The Navy's Future Frigates Are Shaping Up To Be More Lethal And Capable, As Well As Cheaper

The requirements have expanded, but the service is pushing for commonality with existing systems to push the price point down.

The U.S. Navy expects to complete a design review of five proposed frigate designs by the end of this spring. This will help the service finalize its requirements and pave the way for a full, open competition to hire one company to build 20 frigates, each of which will cost more than $800 million. These ships will be a significant component of a growing surface warfare renaissance within the service.

Navy officials offered the latest details on the state of the program at the Surface Navy Association’s (SNA) main annual conference on Jan. 15, 2019. The service first announced its was in the market to procure new guided missile frigates, presently referred to as FFG(X), in 2017. Subsequently, General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, Fincantieri Marine, Huntington Ingalls, Austal USA, and Lockheed Martin each received $15 million contracts in 2018 to craft proposed designs and to help the Navy figure out exactly what it wanted out of the ships.

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WNU Editor: Cheaper and more lethal? This I have to see.