“It’s an existing design that can be put into production for U.S. ships in a short period of time so why not?”
And it’s a great design as outfitted.
Diesels for transit, LM2500 turbines for operations.
MK45 5in gun.
Aegis with 48 VLS tubes and SPY-1 radar.
Hangar, fuel and weapons support for a helo and/or drones.
And I guess at a little more than half the size of a Burke DDG it’s about as small a Frigate as the Navy will settle for.
I just hope we can get them delivered 3 per year at under $1B per unit.
A tested design sounds like a good cost saving idea. The fleet needs to be expanded and quickly. I think some of the mothballed fleet needs to be re-commissioned as well. New Out of the Box Ideas need to be designed and launched like:
Small, fast, drone carriers, Silent electric hunter killer subs,and new monitors armed with a pair of rail guns.
Needs to be built here with US Steel and US labor. 100%.