USS Stockdale (DDG-106) transits the Gulf of Oman on Jan. 5, 2019. US Navy Photo
The Navy’s latest effort to define its next large surface combatant is underway, with the director of surface warfare (OPNAV N96) saying the top-level requirements for the ship class are due to the chief of naval operations by the end of the year. Read More
The following is the June 26, 2020 Congressional Research Service report, Navy Frigate (FFG[X]) Program: Background and Issues for Congress. Read More
The following is the June 8, 2020 Congressional Research Service report, Navy Frigate (FFG[X]) Program: Background and Issues for Congress.
The FFG(X) program is a Navy program to build a class of 20 guided-missile frigates (FFGs). Congress funded the procurement of the first FFG(X) in FY2020 at a cost of $1,281.2 million (i.e., about $1.3 billion). The Navy’s proposed FY2021 budget requests $1,053.1 million (i.e., about $1.1 billion) for the procurement of the second FFG(X). The Navy estimates that subsequent ships in the class will cost roughly $940 million each in then-year dollars. Read More
Fincantieri FFG(X) Design based on the FREMM. Fincantieri Image
This post has been updated to include comments from industry.
No protests have been filed over the Navy’s decision to award Fincantieri a detail design and construction contract for the FFG(X) program, clearing the way for work to begin, the Navy confirmed to USNI News.
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An artist’s concept of the HII Patrol Frigate.
This post was updated with a statement from Huntington Ingalls Industries.
Huntington Ingalls Industries executives are still smarting a week after the Navy awarded a potentially multi-billion-dollar frigate contract to rival shipbuilder Fincantieri.
The following is the May 4, 2020 Congressional Research Service report, Navy Frigate (FFG[X]) Program: Background and Issues for Congress. Read More
Fincantieri FFG(X) Design based on the FREMM. Fincantieri Image
This post has been updated to include additional information from the Navy.
The Navy awarded a $795-million contract to Fincantieri to begin building a new class of guided-missile frigates, in the first new major shipbuilding program the service has started in more than a decade, the Navy announced today. Read More
The following is the April 17, 2020 Congressional Research Service report, Navy Frigate (FFG[X]) Program: Background and Issues for Congress. Read More
Sailors watch as the portside anchor of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) is lowered into a dry dock for maintenance on March 15, 2019. US Navy Photo
For three years in a row, the Navy has requested $40 billion annually to build, operate and sustain its ships, but the service has put insufficient thought into how early decisions could reduce those sustainment costs in the future, according to a Government Accountability Office new report.
USS Thomas Hudner (DDG-116) during construction at General Dynamics Bath Iron Works. BIW photo
Two senior lawmakers said they don’t have enough information to evaluate the Trump administration’s “hard rudder turn” on its shipbuilding budget that was presented last month to Congress. Read More
