Frigate Almirante Juan de Borbón. Photo: Spanish Navy
The contract to build the frigates will go to only one
shipbuilder in 2020.
By Immanuel Jotham
January 11, 2018 13:09 GMT
The US Navy's next generation of frigates will be capable
of carrying 20 guided missiles, but each of them will come at a massive cost of
$950 million (£704.14 million) per hull. The project, called the Naval Sea
Systems Command (NAVSEA) FFG(X) programme, has a total requirement of 20
vessels.
A report from the US Naval Institute (USNI) has mentioned
that the average cost "threshold requirement" per hull of $950
million is for the second to the 20th frigate and added that the contract to
build them will go to a single shipbuilder in 2020. The first one in this class
is expected to cost over the above-mentioned average. The announcement was made
at the Surface Navy Association 2018 symposium by NAVSEA's Regan Campbell,
noted USNI.
When compared to a few of the US Navy's current vessels,
the FFG(X) frigates seem to cost quite a lot more. According to USNI, a Flight
IIA Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer (DDG-51) costs about $1.8
billion (£1.33 billion) not just to build, but also equip with weapons and
sensor systems.
The FFG(X) will need to field a minimum of eight
over-the-horizon anti-ship missiles, with an objective requirement of 16, noted
the report. It will also need to be able to hold Mk-41 Vertical Launch System
cells. The objective target is set at 32 cells with a minimum of 16, apart from
other missile launch systems.
Both Austal USA Independence-class (LCS-2) Littoral
Combat Ships and Lockheed Martin's Freedom-class (LCS-1) cost around $588
million per hull.
The FFG(X) is slated to be a follow-up to the LCS vessels
as a conceptual redesign for the US Navy after a proposal was issued late last
year. An unknown number of bidders are said to be involved in this project.
NAVSEA is expected to award between four to six contracts
by March 2018 to develop conceptual designs for the FFG(X) project. Based on
these proposed designs, the final contract will be awarded in 2020, noted the
report.
"We're going to have a technical review of each of
these proposals by the end and provide them feedback in where these designs
might need some buffing up to get to a full and open competition,"
Campbell said.
"You will see those requests for proposals by the
fourth quarter of 2019, with an award in 2020."
While the exact number of proposals are not yet known,
USNI has speculated that up to eight designs are under current consideration
for the next phase of the project. This is likely to include shipbuilders from
Europe as well, the report stated. Spanish Navantia, for example, was mentioned
as being one of the companies that have sufficient experience in building
frigates and frigate-sized warships.
Navantia have built warships using the Lockheed Martin
Aegis Combat System. This system shares common threads with the COMBATSS-21,
which is used in the LCS class vessels and is also expected to be installed in
the FFG(X).
Original post: ibtimes.co.uk
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