FFG(X)

Class overview
Name: FFG(X)
Operators:  United States Navy (projected)
Preceded by: Freedom class, Independence class
Planned: 20
General characteristics
Type: Guided missile frigate
Boats & landing
craft carried:		 Rigid-Hull Inflatable Boats
Sensors and
processing systems:
Armament:
Aircraft carried:

FFG(X), or Fast Frigate, Guided (Experimental),[2] is the notional designation of a class of multimission guided-missile frigate for the US Navy, to be contracted from 2020, as a follow-on to the modular Littoral Combat Ship. The FFG(X) was announced in a US Department of Defense Request For Information (RFI) on 10 July 2017.[1]

Design basis

The RFI says, "A competition for FFG(X) is envisioned to consider existing parent designs for a Small Surface Combatant that can be modified to accommodate the specific capability requirements prescribed by the US Navy."[1]

The Navy wants a frigate that can keep up with the aircraft carrier and have sensors networked in with the rest of the fleet to expand the overall tactical picture available to the group. “The FFG(X) will normally aggregate into strike groups and Large Surface Combatant led surface action groups but also possess the ability to robustly defend itself during conduct of independent operations while connected and contributing to the fleet tactical grid.”[1]

The Navy would like for the ship to be able to:

Timing

The U.S. Navy intends to award the contract for the first FFG(X) in 2020. It will buy one in 2020 and one in 2021, followed by two each year after that, for a 20-ship class[1].

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Frigate competition wide open: Navy specs reveal major design shift, David B. Larter, DefenseNews.com, 2017-07-10
  2. ↑ The Navy Is Looking for a New Frigate to Replace the Troubled Littoral Combat Ship
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