In response to significant delays in the Constellation-class frigate program, the U.S. Congress has mandated the Navy to explore the acquisition of a new class of small warships with advanced missile capabilities or to retrofit existing vessels with bolt-on launchers. This directive aims to address the pressing need for increased combat capacity amid escalating global maritime threats, particularly from China. The Senate Armed Services Committee’s call for a “highly producible small surface combatant study” is part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for the Fiscal Year 2025, reflecting concerns over the Navy’s declining ship numbers and vertical launch system (VLS) capacity.
Constellation Class Frigate Program: A Background
The Constellation-class frigates are intended to enhance the U.S. Navy’s combat capabilities with their advanced design and technology. However, the program has faced multiple delays, with the future USS Constellation now expected to be delivered in 2029, three years behind schedule. The second ship in the class, the USS Congress, also faces significant delays, and four more frigates are on order. These delays have prompted a broader debate about the adequacy of the 32 VLS cells on these ships to support their mission sets, a concern highlighted in reports by defense analysts.
Senate Armed Services Committee’s Report
The Senate Armed Services Committee’s recent report, accompanying the NDAA for 2025, underscores the urgency of addressing the projected decline in the Navy’s battle force ships and VLS capacity. The President’s budget request for Fiscal Year 2025 proposes the procurement of six battle force ships while retiring 19, exacerbating the near-term decline in the Navy’s combat capacity. The report emphasizes the need for immediate solutions, given the ongoing naval buildup by the People’s Republic of China, which poses a significant threat to U.S. forces in the Indo-Pacific region.
A critical factor contributing to this decline is the retirement of the Ticonderoga-class cruisers, each equipped with 122 VLS cells, and the planned decommissioning of the Ohio-class guided missile submarines, which can carry up to 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles. The Navy’s current plan involves replacing these capabilities with Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, featuring 96 VLS cells, and a new destroyer design known as DDG(X), along with the Constellation-class frigates and future uncrewed surface vessels.
Congressional Mandate: Exploring New Solutions
The Senate Armed Services Committee has outlined five key points for the Navy to address in its study, due by April 1, 2025:
- Crewing Variants of LUSVs: The Navy must examine a crewed variant of the Large Unmanned Surface Vessel (LUSV) that can serve as a pathfinder for the unmanned version while adding near-term missile-launching capacity. This includes discussing any need for waivers of survivability or other requirements, given the non-crewed original design of the LUSV.
- Adapting Existing Ship Designs: The study must explore other foreign, commercial, or U.S. government ship designs that are mature and could be adapted with minimal modifications to produce a crewed small surface combatant.
- Modifying Existing Navy Ships: The Navy should evaluate existing ships, including amphibious and support ships, or commercial-type hulls that could be quickly modified into missile-firing ships through the addition of VLS, bolt-on, or containerized missile launchers.
- Producibility and Supply Chain Constraints: The study must evaluate the time to field each platform and its producibility within current supply chain and industrial base constraints.
- Cost Estimates and Manpower Impacts: The Navy must provide cost estimates and manpower impacts for each platform.
This mandate is particularly notable given that the Constellation-class was intended to be a design based on the Franco-Italian FREMM (Fregata Europea Multi-Missione) frigate. However, the Constellation-class frigates will now have only about 15 percent commonality with their parent design due to extensive modifications. These changes could adversely impact the ships’ speed, operational capabilities, schedule, and cost.
Criticisms and Concerns
The Senate Armed Services Committee has expressed significant concerns about the management of the Constellation-class frigate program. The committee’s report questions the U.S. Navy’s original program justification to Congress and the fixed-price contract awarded to the shipbuilder. The committee also criticized the Navy for certifying that the basic and functional design was complete before construction began in August 2022, only to later estimate that design maturity would not be reached until more than two years later.
The Need for Supplementary Options
Given the delays with the Constellation-class frigates and the projected near-term decline in combat capacity, the Senate Armed Services Committee believes the Navy must focus on supplementary options to increase ship numbers and missile-launching capacity. The Secretary of the Navy has until April 1, 2025, to produce a study addressing the outlined points, with the aim of enhancing the Navy’s near- and medium-term combat capabilities.
Potential Solutions and Existing Technologies
Several existing technologies and concepts could meet the Navy’s need for enhanced missile-launching capacity. The Navy has been experimenting with various uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) for years, including live-fire missile launches. Many of these USV designs are crew-optional, with baseline uncrewed capabilities that can be incrementally expanded.
The idea of expanding missile launch capacity by adding bolt-on systems to existing ships, particularly cargo vessels and other auxiliary types, is also not new. Congress previously demanded a study on this concept in 2021 before approving funding for the LUSV program. The Navy has tested a containerized launcher called the Mk 70, derived from the Mk 41 VLS found on various U.S. and foreign warships. BAE Systems is developing the Next Generation Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile Launch System (NGELS), based on its Adaptive Deck Launcher (ADL), which is designed to be modular and scalable for integration on a wide variety of ships.
Challenges and Considerations
While bolt-on and containerized missile launch systems offer flexibility, they typically have less capacity than built-in VLS arrays. The Navy has downplayed using total VLS cells as a metric of combat capacity, emphasizing the advanced nature of the weapons in those launchers and other new capabilities.
Arming auxiliaries or commercially sourced vessels has its drawbacks, primarily due to their lack of survivability compared to true warships. Nonetheless, the Navy’s broader distributed concepts of operations involve ships loaded with missiles, including dedicated arsenal ships, networked together to create new tactical opportunities and targeting challenges for opponents. This fits with evolving “kill web” concepts that are increasingly important in the face of expanding threat capabilities from near-peer competitors like China.
The U.S. Navy faces significant challenges in maintaining and enhancing its combat capacity amid delays in the Constellation-class frigate program and the retirement of key assets like the Ticonderoga-class cruisers and Ohio-class guided missile submarines. Congress’s mandate to explore new small warship designs and bolt-on missile launchers represents a critical effort to address these challenges. The Navy’s forthcoming study, due by April 1, 2025, will be crucial in determining the most viable solutions to enhance the Navy’s near- and medium-term combat capabilities in an increasingly contested maritime environment.
APPENDIX 1 – The Constellation-Class Guided-Missile Frigate
The Constellation-Class Guided-Missile Frigate (FFG 62) is the U.S. Navy’s latest small surface combatant, designed for multi-mission capabilities in both blue-water and littoral environments. Here is a detailed overview of its technical specifications and capabilities:
General Characteristics
- Builder: Marinette Marine Corporation
- Length: 496.1 feet (151.8 meters)
- Beam: 64.6 feet
- Displacement: 7,291 long tons (7,500 metric tons)
- Draft: 18 feet
- Speed: In excess of 26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph)
- Range: 6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 16 knots (electric drive)
- Crew: 140 personnel
- Accommodations: Up to 200 personnel
Capabilities
- Air Warfare:
- Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar (EASR)
- Baseline Ten (BL10) Aegis Combat System
- Cooperative Engagement Capability
- Anti-Submarine Warfare:
- TB-37 Multi-Function Towed Array Sonar
- Thales Group CAPTAS-4 Low Frequency Variable-Depth Sonar
- AN/SQQ-89(V)15 undersea warfare/anti-submarine warfare combat system
- Surface Warfare:
- 32 Mk 41 Vertical Launch System (VLS) cells for missiles such as RIM-162 ESSM, RIM-174 Standard ERAM, and RIM-66 Standard SM-2 Block 3C
- 16 canister-launched Naval Strike Missiles
- Mk 110 57mm gun with Advanced Low Cost Munition Ordnance (ALaMO)
- RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile launched from Mk 49 Guided Missile Launching System
- Electronic Warfare/Information Operations:
- Advanced electronic warfare and information operations systems
- Design flexibility for future upgrades
- Additional Systems:
- COMBATSS-21 Combat Management System (AEGIS derivative)
- AN/SPS-73(V)18 Next Generation Surface Search Radar
- Communications and countermeasures systems
Aircraft and Boats
- Aircraft:
- 1 MH-60R Seahawk helicopter
- 1 MQ-8C Firescout UAV
- Boats:
- 2 rigid-hulled inflatable boats (7m or 11m)
Program Background
The lead ship, USS Constellation (FFG 62), began construction in September 2022, with the keel laid in April 2024. The ship is expected to enter service in 2026, achieving initial operational capability by 2030. The program plans to procure up to 20 frigates, enhancing the Navy’s global maritime presence. Other ships in the class under contract include USS Congress (FFG 63), USS Chesapeake (FFG 64), and USS Lafayette (FFG 65).
