11-25-2025, 08:19 PM
Three years after construction began the new USN Frigate, the USS Constellation is only 10% complete and facing significant delays and cost overruns. The Navy officially announced today that USS Constellation and USS Congress will be completed, but the four follow on ships will be cancelled. The design initially began as a FREMM variant, with an initial cost of $795M for the lead ship. Construction began, while the design was still being finalized, and the design that was supposed to be 85% of a FREMM in terms of weight, grew 10% as designs were changed despite construction already ongoing.
The contract for the first FFG(X), also known as FFG-62 was signed in 2020, with the program beginning in 2017, which wasn't enough time for a new design, or even the design to be completed. The initial contract was for $1.281B for the first hull, with subsequent hulls expected to cost $850-950M. With the time constraints the RFI wanted a parent design that could be modified into a ship capable of being part of a large surface group, and destroy ships over the horizon, or be part of a Carrier Strike Group. The ship was to have a hybrid propulsion system never done before.
In 2020 Fincantiere Marinette Marine's FREMM design was awarded a $795M detailed design and construction for the first ship, with an option for nine more. In 2021, an additional $554M contract was awarded to start on USS Congress. Meanwhile, due to the design not being finalized, costs have run over by up to 40%, reaching as high as $1.6B for the first ship, and $1.2B for each follow on ship. The Navy has spent over $2B to date, and Congress allocated $7.6B for the first six ships.
The Navy is going to concentrate on smaller hull designs that can be built faster and cheaper and will work with clean sheet designs, instead of trying to modify existing designs for US requirements.
https://news.usni.org/2025/11/25/navy-ca...combatants
The contract for the first FFG(X), also known as FFG-62 was signed in 2020, with the program beginning in 2017, which wasn't enough time for a new design, or even the design to be completed. The initial contract was for $1.281B for the first hull, with subsequent hulls expected to cost $850-950M. With the time constraints the RFI wanted a parent design that could be modified into a ship capable of being part of a large surface group, and destroy ships over the horizon, or be part of a Carrier Strike Group. The ship was to have a hybrid propulsion system never done before.
In 2020 Fincantiere Marinette Marine's FREMM design was awarded a $795M detailed design and construction for the first ship, with an option for nine more. In 2021, an additional $554M contract was awarded to start on USS Congress. Meanwhile, due to the design not being finalized, costs have run over by up to 40%, reaching as high as $1.6B for the first ship, and $1.2B for each follow on ship. The Navy has spent over $2B to date, and Congress allocated $7.6B for the first six ships.
The Navy is going to concentrate on smaller hull designs that can be built faster and cheaper and will work with clean sheet designs, instead of trying to modify existing designs for US requirements.
https://news.usni.org/2025/11/25/navy-ca...combatants
