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Topic review - Constellation class FFG(X)-US Future Frigate program
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  Post subject:  Re: Constellation class FFG(X)-US Future Frigate program  Reply with quote
Seapower Magazine

Quote:
Navy Still Plans to Start New Frigate Construction in April 2022
Posted on January 19, 2022 by John M. Doyle, Seapower Correspondent
Then-Secretary of the Navy Kenneth J. Braithwaite announces USS Constellation (FFG 62) as the name for the first ship in the new guided missile frigate class of ships while aboard the museum ship Constellation in Baltimore Inner Harbor, Baltimore, Md., Oct. 7, 2020. U.S. NAVY / Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Levingston Lewis

ARLINGTON, Va. — As the first new U.S. Navy frigate works its way through detailed and functional design phases, officials still plan an April start for building the lead ship of the Constellation class.

“Right now, as far as construction, we’re targeting that date,” Capt. Kevin Smith, the frigate program manager told a briefing at the Surface Navy Association annual symposium. However, “there could be some risk to that [during the detailed design phase] but we’re looking hard at that,” he said, adding, “the one thing that we want to make sure of is, that we don’t start building a ship where the design is not mature.”

After the design phases are completed, a critical design review and a production readiness review are slated to follow in fiscal 2022. Only “then, when we’re ready” will construction begin on what will become the USS Constellation guided missile frigate (FFG 62), Smith told the Jan. 11 briefing.

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Post Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2022 3:31 pm
  Post subject:  Re: Constellation class FFG(X)-US Future Frigate program  Reply with quote
Haijun watcher wrote:
They had better build more than 10 in total...there were 71 Perry class frigates and 46 Knox class built so they have big shoes to fill.

Defense News

Quote:
Fincantieri dedicates all its US shipyards for Navy frigate orders
By: Tom Kington   4 days ago

The U.S. Navy's future frigate is based on the Italian FREMM, shown here underway off the coast of Virginia during its 2018 deployment to the East Coast. (Staff)

ROME — Fincantieri is to use all three of its U..S shipyards to build new FFG(X) frigates and will hire 600 more staff by year-end to handle the work, a company official said following the U.S. Navy’s order for a second vessel out of a potential 10 in total.

The $553.9 million contract for the second Constellation-class guided-missile frigate was awarded Thursday to Fincantieri Marinette Marine based in Marinette, Wisconsin. The shipyard has experience building Freedom-class littoral combat ships for the Navy.

As opposed to the LCS program, work on the new frigate will also take place at two other Great Lakes sites controlled by Italian parent firm Fincantieri: Sturgeon Bay yard Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding, which focuses on commercial shipping, and Green Bay yard Fincantieri ACE Marine, which specializes in aluminum vessels for the U.S. Coast Guard.

“With this step forward, we will keep pace with the program by building some sections [of the frigates] at Sturgeon Bay and Green Bay,” said Dario Deste, president and CEO of Fincantieri Marine Group.


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Ha! I went trough undergraduate Naval Aviator training with Dario.
Post Posted: Sun May 30, 2021 5:40 pm
  Post subject:  Re: Constellation class FFG(X)-US Future Frigate program  Reply with quote
But the Knox and OHP were built during the Cold War - not now, in very different political and economical conditions. Not even a president who declared that he would like to increase the size of the US Navy significantly, actually provided the means to achieve that.

/edit: The Knox and OHP were also really cheap, austere designs - more similar in some aspects to the LCS than the Constellation class.
Post Posted: Tue May 25, 2021 11:27 pm
  Post subject:  Re: Constellation class FFG(X)-US Future Frigate program  Reply with quote
They had better build more than 10 in total...there were 71 Perry class frigates and 46 Knox class built so they have big shoes to fill.

Defense News

Quote:
Fincantieri dedicates all its US shipyards for Navy frigate orders
By: Tom Kington   4 days ago

The U.S. Navy's future frigate is based on the Italian FREMM, shown here underway off the coast of Virginia during its 2018 deployment to the East Coast. (Staff)

ROME — Fincantieri is to use all three of its U..S shipyards to build new FFG(X) frigates and will hire 600 more staff by year-end to handle the work, a company official said following the U.S. Navy’s order for a second vessel out of a potential 10 in total.

The $553.9 million contract for the second Constellation-class guided-missile frigate was awarded Thursday to Fincantieri Marinette Marine based in Marinette, Wisconsin. The shipyard has experience building Freedom-class littoral combat ships for the Navy.

As opposed to the LCS program, work on the new frigate will also take place at two other Great Lakes sites controlled by Italian parent firm Fincantieri: Sturgeon Bay yard Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding, which focuses on commercial shipping, and Green Bay yard Fincantieri ACE Marine, which specializes in aluminum vessels for the U.S. Coast Guard.

“With this step forward, we will keep pace with the program by building some sections [of the frigates] at Sturgeon Bay and Green Bay,” said Dario Deste, president and CEO of Fincantieri Marine Group.


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Post Posted: Tue May 25, 2021 6:31 pm
  Post subject:  Re: Constellation class FFG(X)-US Future Frigate program  Reply with quote
Hmm...at what number of frigates in the class will procurement costs reach "economies of scale"?

Military.com

Quote:
The Navy Will Pay $554M for Another Next-Gen Frigate, Called USS Congress
21 May 2021
Military.com | By Gina Harkins
A year after the Navy issued a contract to begin production of the first frigate in the new Constellation class, officials announced the service will spend another $554 million for a second small-surface combatant.
The Wisconsin-based Fincantieri Marinette Marine was awarded a contract Thursday to build the future guided-missile frigate Congress. It will be the second new Navy vessel named in honor of George Washington's six original frigates.
"As the second ship of the Constellation Class Frigate Program, the USS Congress will provide a highly capable, next-generation surface combatant that our Navy and Nation needs," Capt. Kevin Smith, major program manager for the Constellation-class frigates, said in a statement following the announcement.
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Post Posted: Sat May 22, 2021 9:23 am
  Post subject:  Re: Constellation class FFG(X)-US Future Frigate program  Reply with quote
Naval News


Quote:
NAVSEA Builds New Frigate Readiness Digital Model in Advance of Construction
Even before the hull of the first new Constellation-class Frigate (FFG), USS Constellation (FFG 62), is laid, a cross-warfare center team is developing a digital platform to predict whether its systems are ready for its mission before it leaves port.
Naval News Staff 19 Apr 2021
NAVSEA press release
That platform is known as the total ship Frigate Readiness Assessment Model (FRAM). Members of Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC), Port Hueneme Division (PHD) are developing and testing FRAM with input from NSWC Corona in Norco, California and NSWC Carderock in Bethesda, Maryland.
FRAM implements a holistic modeling and simulation approach for acquisition and sustainment of ships’ systems and parts using the same toolset as the soon-to-launch Model Based Product Support (MBPS) platform. It also makes use of existing data sets and digital models of various combat systems that have already been identified to be used on the new frigate.
The FFG Program Office Readiness Working Group (PMS 515L) is overseeing the FRAM project under Program Executive Office, Unmanned and Small Combatants.
“The importance of FRAM is applying MBPS at a total ship level in acquisition, which will serve as foundation and baseline when the ship transitions to its lifecycle,” said Bob Howard, the acquisition supportability manager in NSWC PHD’s Littoral Strike and Warfare Department. Howard is leading the FRAM team at the command, which will serve as the in-service engineering agent (ISEA) for the new ship class.

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Post Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2021 5:28 pm
  Post subject:  Re: Constellation class FFG(X)-US Future Frigate program  Reply with quote
Defense News

Quote:
With a second frigate yard competition on the horizon, Austal USA moves to add steel shipbuilding
By: Joe Gould and David B. Larter   3 days ago
WASHINGTON ― Austal USA has broken ground on a steel production line in Mobile, Ala., as the Navy winds down its aluminum-hulled shipbuilding programs and plans on larger numbers of smaller ships.

The company, a subsidiary of the Australia-based Austal, makes the Navy’s expeditionary fast transport and the Independence-class littoral combat ship, . The company will be ready to start building steel hulls by next April, an upgrade that is expected to position it for future competitions.

“As demand for the greater and larger Navy and Coast Guard fleets grows, Austal USA is investing to meet those changing requirements,” Rusty Murdaugh, the company’s interim president, said in a statement on Friday. “We’re investing in our people, we’re investing in our processes and we’re investing in our facilities and capabilities.”
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Post Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2021 5:32 pm
  Post subject:  Re: Constellation class FFG(X)-US Future Frigate program  Reply with quote
EDR Magazine

Quote:
SNA 2021: Updates on FFG Constellation-class frigate programme
14/01/2021 Constellation, FFG 62, Fincantieri Marinette Marine, FMM, US Navy
By Luca Peruzzi
During the Surface Navy Association (SNA) 2021 virtual symposium, the US Navy’s programme manager for the Constellation Class Frigate (PMS 515) gave an update on the latest programme developments since the detailed design and construction (DD&C) contract was awarded on last April to Fincantieri Marinette Marine (FMM).
Speaking about the two phase acquisition approach of the programme, where the FFG 62 Conceptual Design Phase I saw the full and open competition of five competitors based on the matured industry parent design adapted to meet the FFG 62 requirements, and the follow-on Phase II, which was launched three months in advance on last April with the FFG 62 DD&C contract award to Fincantieri Marinette Marine, the PM Captain Kevin Smith explained that “the programme is today in the latter phase intended to design, construct and delivery the FFG 62 lead frigate, with options for additional nine hulls in full and open competition”. The US Navy plans to build 20 frigates with the first 10 being funded one each in fiscal year (FY) 2020-2022; two each in 2023-2024; three in 2025; and two each in 2026-2030.

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Post Posted: Fri Jan 29, 2021 12:02 pm
  Post subject:  Re: USN FFG(X)- Future Frigate program  Reply with quote
Thread title changed.

Defense News

Quote:
Here’s the latest on the US Navy’s new Constellation-class frigate
By: David B. Larter   1 hour ago
Correction: The follow-on ships in the Constellation class will cost between $850 million and $950 million in constant-year 2018 dollars.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy’s next-generation frigate, the Constellation class, is a do-or-die effort for the service and a critical test of its return to building ships around existing technologies rather than designing them around technologies in development.
In a roundtable with reporters Friday, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday said the Constellation class will be the model for how the Navy designs and builds the next class of destroyer, the so-called DDG Next. And for that reason, the Navy has to get it right.
“I can’t afford for FFG(X) to be anything but coming off a world-class production line that produces a ship that we can count on,” Gilday told reporters in comments ahead of the annual Surface Navy Association symposium, using an acronym for the service’s future frigate. “That will also inform how we’re going to design and build DDG Next. Those have to be world-class efforts that deliver on time, on budget, with the right capacity, with the right capabilities that we need.”

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Post Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2021 5:57 pm
  Post subject:  Re: USN FFG(X)- Future Frigate program  Reply with quote
Naval News

Quote:
U.S. Navy Constellation-Class Frigates To Be Powered By GE LM2500+G4 Gas Turbines
GE Marine announced a contract to provide Fincantieri Marinette Marine with a GE LM2500+G4 aeroderivative marine gas turbine to power the United States Navy's Constellation class (FFG 62) frigate. GE also will provide the gas turbine auxiliary skids (electric start, fuel forwarding and water wash systems) and the gas turbine control system.
Naval News Staff 16 Dec 2020

The new U.S. Navy Constellation class is based on Fincantieri’s proven FREMM design already in operation onboard the Italian Navy Carlos Bergamini class frigates (10-ship program). The U.S. Navy frigates will feature the same power dense GE LM2500+G4 gas turbine in a COmbined Diesel eLectric And Gas turbine (CODLAG) propulsion system.

“The FFG 62 marks the initial U.S. Navy use of the LM2500+G4 engine. To date, 37 LM2500+G4 gas turbines have been chosen for surface combatants and two for commercial marine ships, as well as more than 1,100 of these engines operating worldwide in industrial settings. The U.S. Navy will benefit from Fincantieri’s low-risk, proven ship design powered by GE’s reliable LM2500+G4 gas turbine.”

The LM2500+G4 gas turbine for the new class of frigate is certified to a U.S. Navy rating of 30.3 MW (U.S. Navy standard day). GE will ensure the gas turbine and all associated auxiliary equipment is to specification compliance and fully integrated with the propulsion plant.

The LM2500+G4 will be supplied in GE’s state-of-the-art composite gas turbine module. One of the most important design features of this new module is that it provides a safer environment and improved access for sailors. By using lightweight composites versus the steel enclosure predecessor, wall temperatures are 25oF to 50oF degrees cooler so there is less heat rejected into the engine room. GE also offers water mist fire suppression capability to the composite enclosure. The LM2500+G4 engine will be made in the U.S.A. at GE’s manufacturing facility in Evendale, Ohio.

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Post Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2020 1:10 pm
  Post subject:  Re: USN FFG(X)- Future Frigate program  Reply with quote
Congress is using the LCS as an example of a failed design yet we continue to build them.
Post Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2020 7:21 pm
  Post subject:  Re: USN FFG(X)- Future Frigate program  Reply with quote
Defense News


Quote:
Citing littoral combat ship failures, Congress pushes the US Navy to get FFG(X) right
By: David B. Larter   3 hours ago
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Navy will have to set up a land-based testing site for the engineering plant destined for its new Constellation-class frigate program, according to a provision in the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act on President Trump’s desk.
The frigate program, lately known as FFG(X), includes a propulsion system that hasn’t been used before in the Navy, which Congressional authorizers see as a risk to be mitigated by a testing facility. The ship is being adapted from Fincantieri’s FREMM design, which was a strategy to reduce overall risk in the program by using an existing design.
“While recognizing an existing parent design can reduce design, technical, and integration risks,” an explanatory statement for the NDAA notes, “the conferees are concerned that significant risks remain in the FFG-62 program, including: cost realism; shifting to predominantly U.S. component suppliers instead of the mainly foreign suppliers used in the parent vessel design; and a complex Combined Diesel Electric and Gas Hull, Mechanical and Electrical (HM&E) drive train that has not previously been used on U.S. Navy ships.”
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Post Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2020 5:13 pm
  Post subject:  Re: USN FFG(X)- Future Frigate program  Reply with quote
Yes, these are nice names!

There are significant number of these sailing frigates - for sure, some of the names are used for other classes already. But there would be still sloops and perhaps some other historic ships from the 18/19th centuries.
Post Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2020 12:27 pm
  Post subject:  Re: USN FFG(X)- Future Frigate program  Reply with quote
Like the idea of using historic frigate names.
Post Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2020 12:58 pm
  Post subject:  Re: USN FFG(X)- Future Frigate program  Reply with quote
Military.com

Quote:
The Navy is Naming its Next New Frigate USS Congress
3 Dec 2020
Military.com | By Gina Harkins
Another Navy ship will be named in honor of George Washington's six original frigates.
The Navy's next frigate will be named the USS Congress, Navy Secretary Kenneth Braithwaite told lawmakers on Wednesday. Braithwaite was testifying about Navy Department readiness along with Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday and Marine Commandant Gen. David Berger.

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Post Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2020 12:16 pm
  Post subject:  Re: USN FFG(X)- Future Frigate program  Reply with quote
Soo, after Constellation, Constitution (not to be used as the original is still in commission), Congress, Chesapeake, President and United States, what names should we expect.
Consternation?
Coronation?
Conservation?
Post Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2020 3:37 pm
  Post subject:  Re: USN FFG(X)- Future Frigate program  Reply with quote
It'll be tricky to get enough for the numbers that they're building without stepping on names already used on other classes!
Post Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2020 12:14 am
  Post subject:  Re: USN FFG(X)- Future Frigate program  Reply with quote
There would be a common theme: the names of the early USN frigates:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sailing_frigates_of_the_United_States_Navy#United_States_Navy
Post Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2020 11:44 pm
  Post subject:  Re: USN FFG(X)- Future Frigate program  Reply with quote
The first ship of class has just been named: Constellation.

https://news.usni.org/2020/10/07/secnav ... stellation

A decent name, but provides no common theme for ships of the rest of the class.
Post Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2020 3:44 pm
  Post subject:  Re: USN FFG(X)- Future Frigate program  Reply with quote
The problem with LCS is that they are a small warship designed to perform some of the duties of a frigate in a very specific environment - littoral areas.

In order to increase flexibility they were to have containerized payloads but I think that has been shelved and so they are now expected to serve as light frigates for which they lack the range and equipment to be of much use.

The FFGX should be a vastly more capable platform - if they get the right weapons systems and sensors.
Post Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2020 3:53 am

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