Can't forger this one.
Posted on 07/27/2011 9:30:14 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Top architect proposes new type of frigate for the Navy
The nation’s leading independent naval architectural firm has been quietly gauging whether senior Navy officials are interested in a new class of frigate that would be smaller and lighter replacement for the aging ships now being phased out of service.
The new 3,500-ton "light frigates" would be more heavily armed than previous models and be capable of carrying out a variety of missions over a wide area of the world’s oceans.
Gibbs & Cox of Arlington, Va., says it has produced concept drawings for a roughly 400-foot steel-hull, twin-propellor, diesel-powered light frigate that would be capable of firing Tomahawk cruise missiles as well as Standard III’s, missiles that can be used for ballistic missile defense. The ship also would feature sophisticated phased-radar.
The Navy’s Cold War-era Perry-class frigates, including the six in San Diego, no longer fire missiles.
The new ship concept calls for a vessel with a crew of 75 to 110, which is far smaller than the 180-200 people who operate the Perry-class frigates. The ship would have a range of roughly 7,000 miles, and a draft of about 20 feet, meaning that it could get into shallower water than existing frigates, but not quite as shallow as the Navy’s new and troubled littoral combat ship. The company has yet to release a drawing of the concept ship, or say how much it might cost to build.
Gibbs & Cox has provided the design for more than 6,000 ships over the past 80 years, including the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, which is currently the work horse of the Navy, and the Perry-class frigates. The company also designed the San Diego-based Freedom, the lead ship in the Freedom-class littoral combat ship program. It did not design the Independence-class LCS ships.
The Navy revealed on Tuesday that the first 12 LCS vessels will be homeported in San Diego.
Rick Biben, the company’s president and chief executive, said Wednesday, “We are not competing with any existing design. We’re looking at what the Navy might need in the future, and we’re working to expand our portfolio of ships.”
Biben stressed that light frigate is not meant to be a competitor to the troubled LCS. Earlier this year, Freedom experienced a crack in its hull, alarming members of Congress. More recently, the Independence was reported to have “aggressive” corrosion in and around its propulsion system.
The problems led a bipartisan group of six U.S. senators to ask for a formal review of LCS. And Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, has suggested that it might be smart to rebid some LCS contracts because the ships will cost at least twice as much as originally planned.
Eric Midboe, vice program of program management at Gibbs & Cox, said Wednesday that the light frigate would be a “conventional, shock-hardened ship” whose hull would be similar to those seen on modern Coast Guard frigates.
Still, trying to shoehorn SPY-1D(V) and strike lenght Mk-41 cells into a 3500 tonne ship will be interesting, to say the least.
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