The Ship Model Forum

Another belated post:

National Interest

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"Haijun" means "navy" in Mandarin Chinese.

"You have enemies? Good. It means you stood up for something in your life."- Winston Churchill

Make the hull a few feet longer and install a 48 cell VLS. Probably the most cost-effective improvement you could add.

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https://inchhighguy.wordpress.com/

And then the next article will ask why they do not have 64 cells, then 96, then 128 etc. And then, for some strange reason, there will be the question why the price of the ships was rising dramatically...

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I wonder why this question is not asked of LCS? Surely it is lacking the armament it needs to carry out its tasks? LCS production should obviously be stopped straight away and the USN should get on with the FFX.

Why is this taking so long? They are buying an off the shelf frigate of proven design and all the equipment is presumably ready for production so just make a choice and get on with it!

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In 1757 Admiral John Byng was shot "pour encourager les autres". Voltaire

The contract for the FFG(X) are scheduled to be finished in 2020, i.e. only in 2020 the ships will be ordered.

The program is completely in time. The US Navy had decided NOT to order an existing design, but will order a design based on existing parent design, but with significant changes. E.g. the design derived from the Italian FREMM deviates strikingly from its parent design, different bow shape, different mast etc. etc.

For sure, if there are constantly new requirements, the program will be delayed. Already the number of VLS cells was upgraded from 16 to 32 and apparently also the requirements regarding the hull strength and damage resistance were increased (causing the Freedom class-derived design to be withdrawn).

Judging from the size of the F-100- and FREMM-derived designs (and the number of VLS cells of their parent designs), it could possible to increase the number of VLS cells if needed without making the hull larger. To limit the number of VLS cells installed limits the costs.

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Thanks for the clarification Maxim. However, that method of procuring warships makes even less sense to me. I am sure the USN is capable of designing a frigate by themselves, but they decided to take an existing ship to speed up the process and save money on designing a totally new ship and then tinker with it to fit their requirements. Okay, fair enough.

But the process goes on and on and we are more than half way through 2019 and they have not even selected the parent design yet to begin the task of altering it.

Once they start tinkering with it I wonder how much time and money will actually have been saved by this process?

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In 1757 Admiral John Byng was shot "pour encourager les autres". Voltaire

No, the designs are now altered to the requirements, see e.g. the report above about strengthening the hull of the FREMM-derived design.

In 2020 the ships are scheduled to be ordered - to a then finalized design. In 2018 the US Navy had already chosen five designs and gave orders to those companies to develop their designs according to the requirements.

e.g. this is the current version of the FREMM-derived design:
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/27853/behold-italys-fremm-frigate-in-the-u-s-navys-ffgx-future-frigate-configuration

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Perhaps I am too cynical but I will be amazed if there is no delay due to last minute alterations to the finals design. The FREMM ship is almost unrecognizable in its US configuration!

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In 1757 Admiral John Byng was shot "pour encourager les autres". Voltaire

It could be that the program can be delayed, e.g. by new changes.

It is really amazing. The USN version of FREMM is so different from the Italian and French ships! That makes is for sure more interesting for modellers

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"Haijun" means "navy" in Mandarin Chinese.

"You have enemies? Good. It means you stood up for something in your life."- Winston Churchill

Huntington Ingalls...fingers crossed.

Defense News

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"Haijun" means "navy" in Mandarin Chinese.

"You have enemies? Good. It means you stood up for something in your life."- Winston Churchill

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"Haijun" means "navy" in Mandarin Chinese.

"You have enemies? Good. It means you stood up for something in your life."- Winston Churchill

Nice! I’m curious what they settle on!

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Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance

The winner is:

a FREMM-derived design by Fincantieri

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2020/04/fincantieris-fremm-wins-us-navy-ffgx-frigate-competition/
https://www.navsea.navy.mil/Media/News/SavedNewsModule/Article/2171794/us-navy-awards-guided-missile-frigate-ffgx-contract/

https://www.navsea.navy.mil/Media/Images/igphoto/2002292087/

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On the positive side: its good to see the USN get back into frigates! These are definitely going to be much more useful than the LCS.

On the not so positive side: it is ridiculous to describe this as a "next generation Frigate"!

I wonder why they felt a 57mm gun was needed in place of the usual 127mm? And the stealth design must be compromised by that old fashioned mast?

But those things can be fixed later.

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In 1757 Admiral John Byng was shot "pour encourager les autres". Voltaire

The design is based on the ASW variant of the FREMM frigates and that one has 76mm OTO main guns.

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Victoria Nobis Vita.

Thanks Roberto. A much more handsome ship than the US version!

But I meant that it is US practice to fit the 5 inch gun to their major surface combatants and these frigates are intended for a general purpose role which should include naval gunfire, so it is odd to select a much smaller, shorter ranged (I assume) weapon.

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In 1757 Admiral John Byng was shot "pour encourager les autres". Voltaire

I had forgotten that! I assume the small size of those left no space or weight margins for anything larger?

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In 1757 Admiral John Byng was shot "pour encourager les autres". Voltaire

The OHP had no space for a larger gun, the new ships would have it. I assume that they have chosen the cheaper gun, which is also already in production for the LCS and the Legend class cutters.

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The 57mm is much faster firing (220 rds/min versus ~30/min for the 5"), which makes it better for traditional frigate escort missions where you're defending against enemy missiles or small boats. The only real benefit of a 5" is longer range gunfire support on land, which isn't what the frigate's really aimed at.

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