AUSTAL today celebrated the US$15 million dollar fixed price contract for the Guided Missile Frigate FFG(X) Concept Design. The contract will develop the Austal Frigate design to meet the FFG(X) system specification with the goal of reducing cost, schedule, and performance risk for the follow-on detail design and construction contract.
Austal rolled out an updated design of its "Austal Frigate" at SNA 2018, reflecting some of the Government Furnished Equipments to be supplied by the U.S. Navy such as Raytheon's EASR radar. Note that the Mk41 VLS have been moved to the bow and stern and the number of anti-ship missiles have been reduced to 8x from 16x. (Austal image).
“Austal welcomes this contract as an endorsement of our advanced, technology focused design; something that underpins everything we do and is at the heart of what has built our reputation over the last 30 years,” Austal CEO, David Singleton said.
“Our continued investment in research and development to support the technology of our vessels is what has kept our designs at the forefront of advanced naval capabilities,” Mr. Singleton said.
“Austal’s design department is always increasing its capability to offer the latest technological developments on all our platforms,” he said
“Highly technical engineering, research and development, and advanced digital design concepts are continually improved to set the standard of what is possible in naval design.
“With this latest announcement, the United States has recognised the importance of being able to operate the most advanced naval vessels and we are excited to work with them to develop the technology to do this.
“Our design team in Mobile will be leading the work on the Austal Frigate, and I have every confidence that they will excel in delivering the next generation frigate design to support the United States Navy,” Mr Singleton said.
The conceptual design effort will inform the final specifications that will be used for the detail design and construction request for proposal that will deliver the required capability for FFG(X).
Austal USA is already delivering two classes of ship for the United States Navy through the Spearhead Class, Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF) and the Independence Class, Littoral Combat Ship (LCS).
The U.S. Navy down selected five ship designs to compete for the FFG(X) Frigate Program on February 16, 2018. To learn about the other designs, following this link.
