US Combat Ship Decision Coming in 'Very Near Future'

[Harald]

Update on the U.S. Navy's Littoral Combat Ship Program     ( weinig goed nieuws voor het LCS programma )

The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) was a "Hot Topic of discussion" at Surface Navy Association (SNA 2021) Virtual Symposium held in mid-January 2021 during the end of the President Trump Administration. The U.S. Navy discussed the status, plans, upgrades, new weapons, fixes, and Mission Packages of this troubled and often criticized program.

...../.....

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2021/02/update-on-the-u-s-navys-littoral-combat-ship-program/

[Harald]

US Navy halts deliveries of Freedom-class littoral combat ship  ( volgens mij kunnen zo-wie-zo beter stoppen met bouwen en investering in de nieuwe fregatten )

The U.S. Navy has halted deliveries of Lockheed Martin's Freedom-class littoral combat ship, citing a design flaw with the ship's transmission.

In a statement to Defense News, the Navy pointed to "a material defect" with the ship's combining gear, a complex transmission that transmits power generated by the ship's engines to its waterjet propulsion system, and said it is working to design a fix for in-service littoral combat ships while holding off on taking delivery on new ships.

.../...

https://www.defensenews.com/breaking-news/2021/01/19/the-us-navy-halts-deliveries-of-freedom-class-littoral-combat-ship/

[Flyguy]

Die amerikanen en die masten...waarom? 

LOS vooral. Dat wij nou alles willekeurig over het schip verspreiden... Ik vind zo'n mast wel mannelijk 

[Huzaar1]

Die amerikanen en die masten...waarom? 

[Harald]

Constellation-class Program update, the future Frigate of the U.S. Navy

U.S. Navy CAPT Kevin Smith, program manager (PMS 515) provided an update on the Constellation-class Frigate program today during the Surface Navy Association (SNA) 2021 virtual Symposium.



CAPT Smith explained that in FY2021, the focus of the program will be to approve Fincantieri's build specifications, completing the detailed design and start the construction of the lead ship. The milestones of the first-in-class ship, USS Constellation (FFG 62) are as follows:
•Critical Design Review (CDR): Q4 FY2021
•Production Readiness Review (PRR): Q4 FY2021
•Start of Construction (SOC): Fall of 2021/Q1 FY2022
•Keel laying: Q1 FY2023
•Launch: Q1 FY2025
•Delivery: Q3 FY2026

Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Mike Gilday, during his opening address at the 2021 SNA Virtual Symposium said the delivery of the first-in-class ship would take place in the Summer of 2026.

The second ship of the class, which will be known as USS Congress (FFG 63), is set to begin construction in Q3 FY2022. The third ship in Q3 FY2023, the fourth ship in Q1 FY2024...

..../....

Constellation-class Frigate: Latest details

On its virtual exhibit, Fincantieri Marine Group unveiled some new artist impressions of the future frigate of the U.S. Navy, showing its latest design.

Compared to previous renderings, there are differences on the mast and the upper part of the forward superstructure block. The mast is incorporating new radar domes or protected antennas like on top of the mast, which is completely new. SATCOM antennas appear to have been moved or replaced from the superstructures will new ones have appeared on the mast.


The future frigate of the U.S. Navy will be based on the Italian Navy FREMM in its anti-submarine warfare (ASW) variant (Virginio Fasan type but quite heavily modified, especially top-side). The vessel will have a length of 496 feet, a beam of 65 feet for a 7,500-ton displacement. According to Fincantieri, the ship will be future proof as it will generate 12 megawatts of power. GE announced last month that they will provide the LM2500+G4 aeroderivative marine gas turbine to power the future frigate.

In terms of weapon systems, the frigate will be fitted with all the government furnished equipment as outlined by the U.S. Navy requirements:
•A Mk110 57mm main gun
•32x Mk41 VLS
•Up to 16x NSM anti-ship missiles
•A RAM close in weapon system

The future frigate will be fitted with the future AN/SPY-6(V)3 radar by Raytheon and baseline 10 Aegis combat management system.




https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2021/01/constellation-class-program-update-the-future-frigate-of-the-u-s-navy/

[Harald]

Navy's Next Destroyer Will Ensure 'No Target Is Out Of Range'    ( next-generation destroyer = Arleigh Burke-class vervanger )

"We've done about all we can do with this ship and we've maxed out the space, weight, power and cooling," Rear Adm. Paul Schlise said. "It's time to reset to a new large surface combatant."

The Navy is laying plans for a next-generation destroyer to join its new frigate and light amphibious warship as the foundation of a nw fleet.

The 67 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers in the inventory today will have to be retired at some point, Navy officials acknowledge, with the design showing some age.

"We've done about all we can do with this ship and we've maxed out the space, weight, power and cooling," Rear Adm. Paul Schlise, head of the Navy's Surface Warfare Division, said at the Surface Navy Conference Tuesday. "It's time to reset to a new large surface combatant hull."

The current designs have been constantly upgraded over the years, but rapid advances in directed energy weapons, electronic warfare systems, and even hypersonics, means ships of the future need more power.

"As our adversaries push farther and farther from their shores we need a ship that can generate enough power to drive more sophisticated radars, electronic warfare systems and directed energy weapons," Schlise added. "A ship that will be able to competently operate inside adversary weapon engagement zones."

The missiles, advanced radar systems and directed energy weapons will need power and propulsion to make them go, and the Navy is looking for designs that can give them that punch.

"We are looking at a new hull form with a new propulsion plant and the ability to incorporate an integrated power system that has the ability to power up the weapons and sensors of the future," Schlise said. "I think the integrated power system is the key to the realm here."

The endgame is to get the systems that DoD leaders have been promoting for the last several years on ships as soon as possible. "We look to large and energetic hypersonic missiles to remind those adversaries that no target is out of range, at least not for long," Schlise said. "We need to ship to achieve these goals."

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/defence/

[Harald]

Multiple Missiles & Lasers Eyed For Navy's New Frigate

"We have ample margin for this hull form," said Capt. Kevin Smith, the Navy's frigate program manager. "Some of those could lead to direct energy type projects and other capability. But right now, just as an example for weight, we have at least 100 tons of margin for future upgrades."

The Navy's Constellation-class guided-missile frigate will sport launchers for 16 Naval Strike Missiles alongside 32 tubes to launch Tomahawks, giving the ship the ability to pound multiple targets at range.

The ship, which will begin coming on line in 2026 under a production plan calling for two hulls a year until its planned build-out of 20 ships, is being considered a cornerstone for getting the fleet smaller, deadlier and less expensive in coming decades.

The Navy's top admiral, CNO Mike Gilday is also looking to the frigate as a potential model for how he revamps nNvy design and aqcquisition work for future classes of ships.

"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 Friday in a talk before this year's Surface Navy Symposium. The ship is expected to also inform how they are going to design and build the next-generation destroyer, or "DDG Next," he said.

"I see no scenario where the frigate isn't a major player where we're heading," Navy acquisition chief James Geurts said last year, underscoring how much weight the service is placing on the program.

Speaking at the symposium today, Capt. Kevin Smith, the Navy's program manager for the frigate effort said the ship is being built with an eye toward expanding its capabilities in the future. "We have ample margin for this hull form. We also have in our requirement space, weight, power and cooling margin to accommodate upgrades down the road over the service life of the ship," he said.

"Some of those could lead to direct energy type projects and other capability. But right now, just as an example for weight, we have at least 100 tons of margin for future upgrades."

The Navy awarded the frigate work to Fincantieri in April of 2020, and the first 10 ships will be built at Marinette Marine shipyard in Wisconsin, followed by another shipyard competition for the next 10 ships.

While the frigate will be smaller than the navy's current Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, they won't be small by any means.

Overall, it will be 496 feet long, feature a beam of 64.6 feet and a draft of 18 feet. Its displacement will be 7,291 long tons, compared to the Burke's Flight IIA ships at 9,300 long tons, and Flight III 9,500 long tons.

The Constellation class will be somewhat lean on sailors carrying 24 officers and 176 enlisted Sailors. 

The first ship of the class — as it's planned now, the Navy has a problematic history with pricing ships — will cost $1.28 billion, and the Navy is required by Congress to keep the next nine ships between $800 million to $950 million in fiscal 2018 dollars.

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/defence/

[Harald]

En met de LCS schepen gaat het nog niet zo lekker ..

US Navy investigates potential LCS class-wide design flaw

Repeated failures in the propulsion train on the Freedom-class littoral combat ships Little Rock and Detroit have raised the specter of a class-wide design flaw that could trigger an expensive reworking of a crucial component on 17 of the Navy's small surface combatants.

The issue being investigated is whether there is a fundamental issue with the design of the Freedom-class' combining gear — a complex transmission that connects power from two large gas turbine engines and two main propulsion diesel engines to the ship's propulsion shafts, which propel the ship through the water with water jets.

A potential class-wide issue with the propulsion train on 17 ships either in the fleet or under contract is the latest in a long string of issues with the littoral combat ship program. Senior Navy leaders have tried repeatedly to set the program aright only to be confronted with stubborn challenges ranging from unreliable engineering plants to glacial development progress on the sensor packages that would give the ships credible warfighting capabilities.

.../....

https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2020/12/15/the-us-navy-is-investigating-a-potential-lcs-class-wide-design-flaw/

[Huzaar1]

Pffrt, hadden ze net zogoed de M-fregat blauwdruk kunnen kopen, opblazen en volduwen met spullen . Wat een farce.  En wat hebben Amerikanen toch met die stalen kooi torens.

[Harald]

Constellation klasse fregatten FFG-62 (Verenigde Staten)

De fregatten van de Constellationklasse (FFG-62) zijn de toekomstige fregatten van de Amerikaanse marine. In totaal moeten er twintig schepen worden gebouwd, gebaseerd op het Italiaanse ontwerp van de FREMM. Het eerste fregat moet rond 2026 in dienst worden gesteld.

https://marineschepen.nl/schepen/constellation.html

[Kornet43]

U snapt het!

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Het FFGX fregat is gewoon een mini destroyer!

En zoals het lijkt een heel stuk goedkoper en meer capabel (niet mooier) dan het MKS-180, een maxi fregat.

[Kornet43]

Het FFGX fregat is gewoon een mini destroyer!

[Harald]

CBO Says Navy Underestimated Cost of First Frigate by 40 Percent

https://news.usni.org/2020/10/14/cbo-says-navy-underestimated-cost-of-first-frigate-by-40-percent

Fregatten van $ 1 miljard+ per stuk ... pffff... en ze willen 20 tot 30 van deze fregatten.

Eigenlijk worden het FFG(X) fregat, een beter uitgeruste, bewapend M-fregat vervanger.

The FFG(X) will be fitted with the Aegis Baseline 10 combat system, the new Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar, 32 Mk 41 vertical-launch missile cells plus at least eight and potentially 16 over-the-horizon anti-ship missiles, and a hangar for a helicopter and uninhabited air system. With  anti-submarine warfare (ASW) a growing priority, the ship's ASW capability will include the fitting of a variable-depth sonar.

[Sparkplug]

CBO Says Navy Underestimated Cost of First Frigate by 40 Percent

https://news.usni.org/2020/10/14/cbo-says-navy-underestimated-cost-of-first-frigate-by-40-percent