{"id":48574,"date":"2025-12-19T15:03:59","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T15:03:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2025\/12\/19\/us-navy-to-develop-new-class-of-smaller-more-agile-combatant-ships\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T17:22:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T17:22:15","slug":"us-navy-to-develop-new-class-of-smaller-more-agile-combatant-ships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2025\/12\/19\/us-navy-to-develop-new-class-of-smaller-more-agile-combatant-ships\/","title":{"rendered":"US Navy to develop new class of smaller, more \u2018agile\u2019 combatant ships"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S. Navy is pursuing a new class of smaller, more agile combatant ships that the service says will become a \u201ccritical component of the Navy\u2019s fleet of the future.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first hull of the future FF(X) class, which will be based on the U.S. Coast Guard\u2019s Legend-class National Security Cutter design, is expected to hit the water in 2028 as a more nimble companion to the Navy\u2019s larger warships, Navy Secretary John Phelan said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SECNAV\/status\/2001991255211807129\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SECNAV\/status\/2001991255211807129\">Dec. 19 video announcement<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cTo deliver at speed and scale, I\u2019ve directed the acquisition of a new frigate class based on [the design by Huntington Ingalls Industries],\u201d Phelan said, \u201ca proven, American-built ship that has been protecting U.S. interests at home and abroad. President Trump and the secretary of war have signed off on this as part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/opinion\/2025\/12\/18\/winning-the-long-game-sustaining-sea-power-as-our-enduring-advantage\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/opinion\/2025\/12\/18\/winning-the-long-game-sustaining-sea-power-as-our-enduring-advantage\/\">Golden Fleet<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The service is touting the FF(X) as a \u201chighly adaptable vessel\u201d capable of carrying out tasks ranging from surface warfare missions and modular payload transport to unmanned systems operations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Recent warship deployments to places like the Red Sea and Caribbean have served as glaring reminders of the service\u2019s need for a more flexible frigate class, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2025\/12\/17\/cno-dishes-on-sailor-wellbeing-us-navy-success-in-era-of-competition\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2025\/12\/17\/cno-dishes-on-sailor-wellbeing-us-navy-success-in-era-of-competition\/\">Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle<\/a> said in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.navy.mil\/Press-Office\/Press-Releases\/display-pressreleases\/Article\/4364538\/navy-announces-new-small-surface-combatant\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.navy.mil\/Press-Office\/Press-Releases\/display-pressreleases\/Article\/4364538\/navy-announces-new-small-surface-combatant\/\">announcement<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOur small surface combatant inventory is a third of what we need,\u201d Caudle said. \u201cWe need more capable blue-water small combatants to close the gap and keep our [guided missile destroyers] focused on the high-end fight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Along with a versatile mission capacity, Navy officials are hoping the preexisting Legend-class design will reduce cost and scheduling <a href=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-navy\/2024\/08\/11\/navy-warship-production-in-worst-state-in-25-years-whats-behind-it\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-navy\/2024\/08\/11\/navy-warship-production-in-worst-state-in-25-years-whats-behind-it\/\">risks that have plagued the service<\/a> in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A March 2025 report by the Government Accountability Office detailed two decades of lackluster performance across U.S. shipyards, which has yielded a general lack of production, ships arriving up to three years behind schedule and faulty functionality among vessels that do hit the water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the time of that report, Shelby S. Oakley, a director at GAO, provided a statement to the Senate Armed Services Committee that highlighted unrealistic costs and timing expectations as primary contributors to shipbuilding delays. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Oakley went on to categorize the U.S. shipbuilding industry as one that has been \u201ceffectively made to operate in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2025\/03\/28\/us-shipbuilding-in-a-perpetual-state-of-triage-watchdog-says\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2025\/03\/28\/us-shipbuilding-in-a-perpetual-state-of-triage-watchdog-says\/\">perpetual state of triage<\/a>.&#8221; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Phelan and Caudle believe the FF(X) class will turn the tide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe know this frigate design works,\u201d Caudle said. \u201cWe know it operates with the fleet. And most importantly, we know how to build it \u2014 now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Phelan added that the new class will be acquired using a lead shipyard, with a competitive follow-on strategy for multi-yard construction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cShipyards will be measured against one outcome: delivering combat power to the fleet as fast as possible,\u201d Phelan said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The aim, Caudle said, is to follow a similar approach the service has taken with Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, producing a design that can be upgraded over time as new threats emerge and technology develops. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The first hull is expected to hit the water in 2028 as a more nimble companion to the Navy\u2019s larger warships, Navy Secretary John Phelan said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":111172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":16,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,12,16,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3498],"class_list":["post-48574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-industry","category-naval","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"VAGS54JUDFAXNGBN43MDIMAQUU","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-military\/2025\/12\/19\/us-navy-to-develop-new-class-of-smaller-more-agile-combatant-ships\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>US Navy to develop new class of smaller, more \u2018agile\u2019 combatant ships - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The first hull is expected to hit the water in 2028 as a more nimble companion to the Navy\u2019s larger warships, Navy Secretary John Phelan said.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US Navy to develop new class of smaller, more \u2018agile\u2019 combatant ships\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The first hull is expected to hit the water in 2028 as a more nimble companion to the Navy\u2019s larger warships, Navy Secretary John Phelan said.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2025\/12\/19\/us-navy-to-develop-new-class-of-smaller-more-agile-combatant-ships\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Defense News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-19T15:03:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T17:22:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"J.D. 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