According to the website of the US "Stars and Stripes", the US Navy announced on April 30 that it had agreed to initially invest US$800 million in the latest guided missile frigate because the US Navy hopes to build a more flexible The surface fleet comes to compete with other naval forces around the world. Admiral Mike Gilday, the Secretary of Naval Operations, said in a prepared statement, “The Navy’s guided missile frigates will be an important part of our future fleet. The guided missile frigates are the development model of the Navy’s small surface warfare ships. Higher lethality, survivability, and improved ability to support national defense strategies within the scope of all military operations."
The US Pentagon’s focus in the 2018 National Defense Strategy Moving from counter-terrorism operations to "competition" with other countries such as Russia, the US Navy has aligned its budget, ship construction, and training with this strategy. The new ship will become the next-generation frigate of the U.S. Navy. The capabilities of littoral combat ships have been improved. These frigates will be able to perform a variety of tasks, including anti-submarine warfare, surface warfare, and electronic warfare. These new ships will be part of the continuing efforts of the U.S. Navy to increase its combat fleet to 355 ships by 2030.
According to US media reports, the new guided-missile frigate will be built by the Fincontier Marinette Marine Company shipyard in Marinette, Wisconsin. According to the news website of the US Naval Academy, the design of the frigate is in charge of the Fincantieri Group of Italy, based on the FREMM multi-purpose frigate equipped by the French and Italian navies. The company has a shipyard in Wisconsin and will build there. Lieutenant General Jim Kilby, the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Naval Operations Department responsible for operations, requirements and capabilities, said, "This will be the true workhorse of the U.S. Navy and support future distributed maritime operations. Therefore, we are super excited about this frigate. "
Marinette Marine has won an initial contract valued at US$795 million for the design and production of the first warship of this class of frigate. The contract can choose to produce up to 9 other frigates, and provide a variety of supplies and services, including training equipment and availability support after delivery. The total cost of the first frigate was US$1.281 billion (the British "Jane's Defence Weekly" believed that the cost of the 055 guided missile destroyer was only US$1 billion, and the 054A frigate was US$400 million).
U.S. Navy Assistant Secretary for Research, Development, and Procurement James Geertz said that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the contract was still signed three months in advance. According to Geerz, the detailed design of this frigate will begin in May, and the construction of the first frigate of this class will begin before April 2022 and be delivered to the Navy in 2026. It is expected that the frigate will gain full combat readiness between 2031 and 2032.
