In a scene reminiscent of the film “Groundhog Day,” the U.S. Navy has canceled the Constellation-class frigate program, with only the first two ships, which are already under construction, scheduled for completion.
The program was terminated due to production delays, escalating costs, and design challenges stemming from adapting a foreign design to meet U.S. requirements. The funds from the canceled frigates will be reallocated to other ships that can be produced more quickly.
The Constellation-class frigate program was intended to be a “low-risk” approach, basically a slam-dunk to building a new frigate, but it underwent significant changes to its Italian FREMM-based design, making it heavier, more expensive, and less aligned with its original blueprints.
This is such an incredibly dumb decision. This was going to be the direction the navy went in - more vessels that are capable in aggregate, but no single one as too big of a target. Datalink handoff. Sensor fusion.
But they’re probably gonna make a new class of battleship or something idiotically obsolete like that.
Sure, you know everyone’s favorite ship, the aircraft carrier, well wait till you meet the drone carrier! It’s just as big for some reason, but it mostly carries drones and guided missiles and it probably sails alongside a traditional carrier, because it can’t actually perform all of the same duties. This is how we’ll be able to spend more than ever before.
They’ll start down that path, spend billions on starting up the program, then a new president comes in and cancels that to return to the smaller ship philosophy and spends billions to start down that path again.
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