{"id":54984,"date":"2019-07-05T15:17:29","date_gmt":"2019-07-05T15:17:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2019\/07\/05\/fincantieris-fremm-frigate-design-bulks-up-for-the-us-ffgx-competition\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:05:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:05:28","slug":"fincantieris-fremm-frigate-design-bulks-up-for-the-us-ffgx-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2019\/07\/05\/fincantieris-fremm-frigate-design-bulks-up-for-the-us-ffgx-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"Fincantieri\u2019s FREMM frigate design bulks up for the US FFG(X) competition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 To meet the U.S. Navy\u2019s famously high survivability standards, the FREMM frigate design has had to hit the gym and pack on hundreds of thousands of pounds of muscle in pursuit of wining the Navy\u2019s FFG(X) competition<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Navy ships are built like linebackers: able to take hit upon hit and stay in the game. But that comes at the cost of extra steel. And in the case of Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri\u2019s FREMM<\/a>, it meant adding hundreds of tons of steel, said retired Adm. Rick Hunt, a former head of Naval Surface Force Pacific who now works for the Italian company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe did, like all the competitors, monthly technical exchange meetings with the government to make sure we were as compliant as possible going into detailed design and construction,\u201d he said. \u201cOne of the things that the Navy wasn\u2019t going to budge on, and we agreed, was the toughness of the ship. So we added about 300 tons of steel on the design for the FREMM.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t