Future Fast Frigate…Follies?
Whelp, looks like the FFX has been funded, to a degree. You know, the (almost) missile-less gray hull 418-foot National Security Cutter.
Sure, it is not perfect, but it is a better plan than not having a frigate at all, which is what we are doing now. Just wish they at least had 16 VLS cells and some torpedo tubes along with the sensors to use them, that’s all I’m saying…
Via DoW:
Huntington Ingalls Industries, Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi, is being awarded a $282,885,933 cost-plus-award-fee contract for FF(X) class frigate lead yard support. Work will be performed in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and is expected to be completed by April 2028. Fiscal 2026 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $59,092,397 (73%); and fiscal 2026 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $21,500,339 (27%), will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 3204(a)(2) (unusual and compelling urgency). Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00024-26-C-2306).
Of course, there is also a push to perhaps buy COTS surface escorts from Japan and/or South Korea, which brings us to the launch this week of the ROK Navy’s fourth FFX Batch-III Frigate, ROKS Jeju (FFG-832).
Jeju is a 3,600-ton-class next-generation frigate, with a full-load displacement of approximately 4,300 tons. The ship is 423 feet long and can reach a maximum speed of 30 knots on a CODEOG plant. She will carry a 5-inch gun (YES!), 16-cell VLS, two triple ASW tubes, 8 TLAM/SLAM-ER equivalents, and a CIWS.
I mean, folks love Hyundai, Kia, LG, and Samsung over here…
FF(X) is far more likely to grow the 16 VLS Cells the Legend class has space reserved for than we are to buy a Korean frigate, seeing as the Koreans are frighteningly chummy with the Chinese. I’d rather bet on bolt-on weapon packages than buying COTS frigates from a Korean yard that might or might not be infiltrated by the Chicoms.
Indeed, I’m sure FFX flight II will be better, just putting it out there. I’d also like to see other yards than Ingalls get involved with the build-out. They are so swamped right now with DDGs, LHAs (which are running a year behind schedule already), and converting Zumwalts that they don’t have the crafts folks to throw at another large initiative. Only so many welders, fitters, and electricians on the Gulf Coast even with all the incentives and school programs…