Fincantieri Marine Group announced it would be teaming with design firm Gibbs & Cox and propulsion systems integrator Trident Maritime Systems to offer a modified version of its FREMM frigate for the US Navy’s new guided‐missile frigate, FFG(X) bid.
“We’ve assembled a world‐class team of partners to customize to American design standards and deliver an advanced, flexible and highly reliable ship to the US Navy for their current and future needs,” said Francesco Valente, president and CEO of Fincantieri Marine Group.
Should the FREMM design win the US Navy bid, the frigates would be built in Marinette, Winconsin, where Fincantieri Marine Group is currently building the Freedom-variant littoral combat ships in partnership with Lockheed Martin.
Lockheed Martin is also offering a design for the new US Navy frigate. Lockheed’s design was first heavily based on the Freedom-variant LCS but photos from the Surface Navy Association event this month reveal a largely different design incorporating elements from DDG-1000 destroyers.
Other participants in the bid include Huntington Ingalls Industries, with a modified version of their national security cutter, and the industry team composed of General Dynamics Bath Iron Works and Navantia with a design based on Navantia’s F100 frigate. Austal is competing with an up-gunned version of their Independent-class LCS.
The US Navy expects the new ships to cost $950 million per hull and the ship design widely expected to be well below is the MEKO derivative proposed by the German ship designer ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems.
A Detail Design and Construction contract is expected to be awarded in FY2020. The navy wants to buy one ship in 2020 and 2021 followed by two ships per year from 2022.