WASHINGTON – Surface warship designers at Fincantieri Marinette Marine Corp. in Marinette, Wis., are moving forward on the next-generation U.S. Navy frigate under terms of a $64.9 million order announced earlier this month.
Officials of the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington are asking Fincantieri Marinette Marine for engineering and class support for detail design and construction of the future Constellation-class guided-missile frigate.
The Constellation class describes a future class of multi-mission guided-missile frigates that will be a follow-on to the modular littoral combat ship. The Navy announced a $795.1 million contract in April 2020 to Fincantieri Marinette Marine to design and build the Constellation-class vessels.
The Constellation-class frigate will replace the Navy's now-retired Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates -- the last of which, the USS Ingraham (FFG 61), was removed from service in 2014.
Frigates are relatively small, light, and fast surface warships that protect the powerful capital ships, and provide escort protection and help with command and control for lightly armed naval surface warships, as well as to commercial or military merchant ships.
The future USS Constellation, to be commissioned in 2029, will be the lead ship of a class of at least 20 frigates. The hull of the ship is be based on the Italian FREMM-class frigate. The first six ships of the class are under contract to Fincantieri Marinette Marine.
The Constellation-class frigate will be able to keep up with Navy aircraft carriers and will have sensors networked with the rest of the fleet. It normally will be part of Navy strike groups and large surface combatant-led surface action groups, but also will be able to operate and defend itself in independent operations.
Frigates typically are escort vessels that are lighter than destroyers, and help defend aircraft carrier battle groups or merchant convoys from submarine, aircraft, and cruise missile threats. They are intended to operate in the open ocean, unlike the Navy littoral combat ship, which is designed to operate in coastal waters and harbors.
The new frigates will have a minimum of 32 Mark 41 Vertical Launch System cells aboard for anti-air warfare. The ship will be designed to destroy surface ships over the horizon; detect enemy submarines; defend convoy ships; employ active and passive electronic warfare systems; and defend against swarming small boat attacks.
Shipboard electronics will include the Lockheed Martin COMBATSS-21 combat management system; AN/SPY-6(V)3 Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar (EASR); AN/SPS-73(V)18 surface search radar; AN/SLQ-61 lightweight towed array sonar; AN/SQS-62 variable-depth sonar; AN/SQQ-89F undersea warfare and anti-submarine warfare combat system; and Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC).
The Constellation-class frigate will be able to fire RIM-162 ESSM Block 2 and/or RIM-174 Standard ERAM missiles; RIM-66 Standard SM-2 Block 3C; the Naval Strike Missile; RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile; Mk 110 57-millimeter gun; and machine guns. The ship will be able to carry one MH-60R Seahawk helicopter and the MQ-8C Firescout unmanned helicopter.
The Constellation and its first two sister ships, the USS Congress (FFG 63) and the USS Chesapeake (FFG 64) are named for three of the Navy's six original frigates -- USS Chesapeake; USS Constitution; USS President; USS United States; USS Congress; and USS Constellation -- built between 1797 and 1800. Of these original ships, the USS Constitution still is a Navy commissioned warship and is based in Boston.
The fourth through sixth ships of the class will be named USS Lafayette (FFG 65); USS Hamilton (FFG 66); and USS Galvez (FFG 67). The first six Constellation-class frigates will be based in Everett, Wash.
The Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems segment in Moorestown, N.J., will provide the COMBATSS-21 combat system, which is based on the larger Aegis combat system for U.S. Navy destroyers and cruisers.
Initially developed for the Freedom-class littoral combat ship, COMBATSS-21 is the backbone of the ship’s mission system and integrates the radar, infrared cameras, gun fire-control system, countermeasures, and short-range anti-air missiles.
Dynalec Corp. in Sodus, N.Y., is building the Wired Voice Network (WVN) for the future Constellation-class frigate. The WVN will be a telephone and announcing system for vital and mission-critical end-to-end communications within the ship.
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The WVN will provide point-to-point telephone communications between various points on the ship, as well as one-way transmission of general orders, information, and alarm signals to various locations aboard the ship where personnel are stationed or normally will be located.
The shipboard communications systems also will provide interfaces to other shipboard systems, and to shipboard connection points to the Defense Switching Network (DSN) and the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).
On this contract Fincantieri Marinette Marine will do the work in Arlington, Chesapeake, and Arvonia, Va.; Marinette, Wis.; Camden, N.J.; Millersville, Md.; Columbus, Ohio; Chicago; Mathews and Hanrahan, La.; Evans, Ga., and should be finished by August 2025.
For more information contact Fincantieri Marinette Marine online at https://fincantierimarinegroup.com/about-us/us-shipyards/marinette-marine/, or Naval Sea Systems Command at https://www.navsea.navy.mil.
