GDBIW joins forces with Navantia for US Navy FFG(X) frigate bid

US shipbuilder General Dynamics Bath Iron Works has teamed up with Spanish Navantia to compete for a contract to build the US Navy’s FFG(X) frigate.

Announced by Navantia on Thursday, the agreement will see the two companies work together on evolved designs of Navantia’s AEGIS frigate family.

Norwegian F310 and the Spanish F100 frigate are Navantia designs, as are the Royal Australian Navy’s new air warfare destroyers. The first of the Australian AEGIS ships, HMAS Hobart, has been delivered to the Australian Navy in September 2017.

“We are delighted to collaborate with Bath Iron Works on the FFG(X) program,” Esteban Garcia Vilasanchez, president of Navantia, said. “Our alliance began in the 80s, when we worked together to bring the design of the FFG Oliver Hazard Perry/Santa Maria to Spain, creating a modern shipbuilding industry in our country.”

“Bath Iron Works has evaluated many US and foreign designs that fit the requirements of the FFG(X) program and has concluded that the family of frigates designed and built by Navantia fit perfectly,” said BIW President Dirk Lesko.

The FFG(X) program foresees an initial acquisition of 20 units with the award of the detail design contract and construction planned for 2020.