The US Navy needs more frigates
reduction
This year, another reduction in the ship's composition is expected.
11 ships are decommissioned, 9 are put into service if everything goes well.
Extending the life of the Nimitz aircraft carrier by another year, until 2026, as the Ford program continues to shift to the right. To do this, the ship will have to undergo a five-month repair, costing about $ 200 million, which still needs to be knocked out of Congress.
Given the situation with the economy and finances, it will not be easy. If everything goes according to schedule, then in 2026-2027. write off two nuclear aircraft carriers at once - "Nimitz" and "Eisenhower".
AUG escort ships
The second pressing problem is the AUG escort ships.
The number of escort ships has dropped to a dangerously low level. If during the Cold War the aircraft carrier was accompanied by a group of one or two URO cruisers of the Ticonderoga type, 4-5 destroyers of the Arly Bjork type. Now, as a rule, two or three ships. Cruiser plus a couple of destroyers.
However, five Ticonderogs will be decommissioned in the next two years, then the process will go on increasing, and only Bjerki will accompany the AUG.
This situation requires the speedy entry into service of a large number of Constellation-class frigates. Naval leadership fleet wants to increase construction of a series of new guided-missile frigates to four ships a year as soon as practical, military leaders told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.
By the end of the year, the Navy expects Constellation-class (FFG-62) shipbuilder Fincantieri Marinette Marine to prepare a technical data package for a second shipbuilder that will start building more frigates, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said.
Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Mike Gilday, said the Navy would like both Marinette and the second shipyard to produce two Connies a year.
“I think it is very important that we can organize work at the second shipyard and get a two-year [rate] from each shipyard,”
he told the committee.
Marinette began manufacturing the first Constellation spacecraft (FFG-62) last year after a $2020 million commitment was made in 795.
The requirement to build four Constellations per year is a departure from the Navy's current long-term outlook for the frigate line. Based on two of three options for a 30-year shipbuilding plan for FY2024, as the Navy initially planned to receive three frigates every two years. The current "sawtooth" scheme rotates the purchase of one to two frigates every two years until 2027, for a total of seven in the current five-year budget forecast.
While the shipbuilding plan, also released on Tuesday, is an interim step ahead of a scheduled Naval force structure assessment due in June, the new report provides insight into why the Navy would like to speed up construction of the line.
"The increase in the number of small multi-role warships, such as the Constellation-class (FFG 62) frigates, allows for a more efficient distribution of tasks across the surface fleet, freeing up more combat-ready [guided missile destroyers] for high-level critical missions."
The current Arleigh Burke-class destroyers have been assigned low-intensity missions as part of individual deployments, such as providing base platforms for Coast Guard law enforcement missions.
The 7-ton frigate is based on the FREMM frigate of the Italian and French navies, but has been heavily modified to meet US military survivability standards, growth stocks, and government-provided equipment. Gibbs & Cox, a subsidiary of Leidos, reworked the original design.
Alas, the reduction in the cost of the project has led to the fact that the new frigates cannot use the SM-6 missiles and the Tomahawk missile defense system.
The original design of the 7-ton frigate called for a 300-element Mark-32 vertical launch system, which was supposed to accommodate the smaller Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM) Block 41 and SM-2 Block IIIC missiles. The SM-2 and Tomahawk are larger missiles and require a longer version of the VLS and additional software, and in the case of the Tomahawk, additional control stations.
Constellation-class frigate program manager Capt. Kevin Smith said the program office, Air Systems Command and Naval Maritime Systems Command are working to implement the new requirements for frigates starting with Second Corps.
The Navy ordered the URO frigate after intense congressional pressure led by the late Senator John McCain (R-Arizona), who was highly critical of the littoral combat ship program and wanted the Navy to pursue a warship with greater capabilities such as advanced air defense capabilities and the role of anti-submarine defense.
Second shipyard
After Fincantieri Marinette Marine won the initial contract in 2020, the terms of the contract included ownership of the technical data packages needed to build the ship so that the Navy could bid for a second shipyard.
Gulf Coast shipyards Austal USA in Mobile, Alabama and Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi are positioning themselves as possible frigate shipyards. Austal, which once only built aluminum ships, has built a steel line to expand the types of ships it can build. Ingalls is finishing up the last National Security boats for the Coast Guard and has building capacity.
However, the Constellation program will only show any tangible results in the distant future, even if shipbuilders can sustain the rate of four ships a year. Since the parallel decommissioning of the Ticonderogs is proceeding at a faster pace.
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