Posted on 05/03/2020 12:44:17 AM PDT by Spktyr
The fact that the super/stretch LCS trimaran got as far as it did is alarming to say the least.
The US-FREMMs will be wholly built in Wisconsin, which is good and bad. The good part is that it will be made in USA, the bad part is that it will now be 2026 before the first one launches and 2030 before IOC. We also ordered one baseline ship and nine option ships; after the first ten the Navy will either contract for ten more from the same yard, or be able to contract another yard to construct additional ships; while I'm sure the Navy doesn't want to get stuck with another LCS nightmare, we desperately need some frigates and we need them now. Hopefully the modified frigate shakes down quickly and well, as it should, and they can use the Wisconsin yard's promised two-a-year capability and somehow add another yard. We are a decade-plus behind on where we should be on our surface combatants due to the all-consuming LCS failure program; this at least will get us a modern advanced surface combatant at a fairly quick rate and a surprisingly low cost.
The same shipyard that built most of the Princess Cruise ships, among others.
Correction: same company. The cruise ships were built in Italy, these frigates will be built in Wisconsin.
Yup. The base FREMM design is already in service with the French and Italian Navies and it doesn’t hurt at all that it already incorporates world-market stealth technologies from day one - which, it must be noted, even the latest Burkes don’t have. Afterthought retrofits of such fundamental technologies are almost always worse than something purpose designed with them from the beginning.
Ping - National Security Frigate did not win, but the LCS derivative didn’t either.
They seemed to serve that role pretty well for a generation, (until the weak hulls caught uo with them).
That was a shipyard in Italy, not up in Wisconsin.
OHP platform is obsolete and provides no stealth features.
Not a good decision. The F100 from Spain would have been a much better choice. Reason being, the F100/110 are designed originally for the SPY-6 Radar/AEGIS combat system and would not have needed very little redesign as its already designed for those weapons and sensors. The FREMM is not, major redesign of the superstructure and the electrical generation plant are going to need major redesigns. This was a political decision not a decision that got the best ship, this was more about where it will be built not which was the best Frigate. But as political decisions go, FREMM is a quality Frigate but once again the US Navy is going to overspend just like they did with LCS, and any time Lockheed-Martin is involved in a shipbuilding project it ends up a boondoggle with huge cost overruns. Lockheed should stick to airplanes, as shipbuilders they’re a walking clusterf__k, so said a Navy Admiral in the 1970’s and it’s still true today but the navy no longer pays heed to lessons learned.
Fincantieri, which will build its frigate at its Marinette Marine shipyard in Wisconsin... “”
2nd paragraph.
Even building new OHPs with better hull materials means that you’re building an old design that’s got major problems in the world in which it would find itself. The OHP has no stealth architecture, no modern tech architecture, could not take the required tech upgrades to fight datalinked in a modern carrier battle group, cannot (without major rework and sacrifice of some capability) carry or fire the later marks of the Standard missile, has no hangar for a helicopter or a UAV fleet... the list of deficiencies in the modern sea battle environment is quite long. You might be able to fix them with redesigns, but the rule is that such redesigns usually cost considerably more than just a clean sheet design - or in this case, buying a new, modern design off the shelf.
The FREMMs are proven, tried and true designs, but they’re modern designs with all the advantages that that brings. Cranking out new OHPs would be like cranking out new 1979 Ford Fairmonts today. Sure, it’s a proven design, but it’s going to be hopelessly overwhelmed in the modern freeway environment (they did not like cruising at 85mph!) and at a gross disadvantage to other, newer designs.
To point out a couple of advantages, a FREMM has a hybrid drive system - it uses direct mechanical drive off the turbines normally, but it can switch to a nearly silent electric drive when looking for hostile submarines. (No engine noise? Have fun trying to hit it with an acoustic homing torpedo.) It also has an azipod thruster unit for low speed maneuverability, evasive maneuvers, or emergency propulsion - the ship can actually vector at 90 degrees to the hull’s direction without having to turn. That’s just the start of the advantages some 30-odd years of technical advancement brings.
Ah, makes sense. Looks like utilizing an existing design used by NATO allies was a shrewd move.
This, though, is probably the only ship class we could do that with - the Frigate is the main combat vessel of most navies, while for us it's more like the baby brother.
They may be a decade behind on the Frigate Program, but the US Navy is light years ahead on homosexualization, transgender normalization along with covert/overt anti-religious and particularly anti-conservative religious training. In the ‘navy’ of Mike Mullen, Dick Danzig, etc. you either embrace the sodomy as normal, resign or risk promotion.
Sorry globalists must learn WE HAVE TO BUILD OUR OWN SHIPS IN THE USA.
Going forward ‘where it is made’ is going to be an operative consideration in everything from pharmaceuticals to military hardware. From ships to shoes, there is no reason we can’t make it here.
Yes and no. The F100 was designed for the SPY-1D and would also have required major redesign to hold the SPY-6. The F110 is still a paper design (which means it is disqualified) and it was designed for a ‘locally built derivative of the SPY-7’. Because they were originally designed to be able to carry a variety of different AEGIS counterparts, the FREMMs actually have far more room and will require less redesign to take SPY-6. French FREMMs carry an old style passive ESA radar made by the French, the Italian FREMMs carry a surprisingly impressive Italian-made active ESA radar. The US variant will easily be able to fit the many SPY-6 modules.
Also, no, it wasn’t based on where it was built. Either of the final candidates would be built in a yard that makes LCS now.
Um, dude, they’re building the whole thing in Wisconsin.
If you want a US *designed* ship to be made there instead, that will be 2040 before the first one could be in the water.
Also, the last thing we got from “the customary US shipbuilders” when left to their own devices was the Little Crappy Ships. Are we just supposed to accept garbage because it was designed and made in the USA?
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