{"id":44663,"date":"2017-07-28T19:50:52","date_gmt":"2017-07-28T19:50:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2017\/07\/28\/experts-question-the-navys-ideas-for-a-new-frigate\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:42:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:42:15","slug":"experts-question-the-navys-ideas-for-a-new-frigate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2017\/07\/28\/experts-question-the-navys-ideas-for-a-new-frigate\/","title":{"rendered":"Experts question the US Navy\u2019s ideas for a new frigate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 A panel of analysts raised questions Tuesday about the U.S. Navy\u2019s recent request for information from industry on a new frigate that it wants to begin buying in fiscal year 2020.
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In a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Seapower Subcommittee, several noted experts called into question the U.S. Navy\u2019s underlying analysis in the kind of frigate its looking for to replace its beleaguered littoral combat ship, or LCS, program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In early July, the U.S. Navy released an RFI seeking a mature design that can be adapted to couple with combat and mechanical systems already in wide use in the U.S. Navy and can fully integrate with a carrier strike group. Among the capabilities the U.S. Navy wanted in its FFG(X) was the ability hunt submarines, kill ships over the horizon and operate independently in high-end threat environments, which would mean a robust counter-missile capability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. Navy is looking to buy 20 FFG(X) ships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response to a question from subcommittee chairman Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Bryan Clark, a retired submariner and analyst with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said he thought the RFI was too vague and questioned whether the u.s Navy actually knows what it wants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think what [the RFI] does is open up the aperture too much in terms of what that future frigate could be,\u201d Clark said. \u201cIt makes it seem like it could be anything from a ship that\u2019s only able to do surface warfare and [surveillance] missions in support of distributed lethality, the Navy\u2019s new surface concept \u2014 a relatively low-end ship or less-capable ship \u2014 all the way up to a frigate that can do air defense for another ship and do anti-submarine warfare.<\/p>\n\n\n\t