The U.S. Navy envision a fiscal year 2020 competition for the future frigate Guided Missile Frigate (FFG(X)) program, according to industry day slides released Friday.
The Navy posted a request for information (RFI) with details on the capabilities it is seeking in this future frigate program, seen as a successor and improvement over the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) (Defense Daily, July 13).
The industry day held on July 25 was aimed at discussing program requirements with industry, sharing details on required capabilities, the objectives of the RFI, and seeking input with interested contractors on the Navy’s plans to design, develop, and build these frigates.
The competition will consider existing parent designs for the small surface combatant that can be modified to accommodate FFG(X) requirements, the Navy said.
The slides highlighted that the FFG(X) program assumes plans for the frigate will use the same crewing, training,m and maintenance concepts as the LCS. This includes Blue/Gold crewing of two crews in one ship, training style as train to certify/train to qualify (T2C/T2Q), and maintenance with crew PMS and some O-level maintenance.
The Navy said RFI responses are due by Aug. 24. The Navy will award a conceptual design phase used to mature parent designs to meet Navy requirements in 2018. This includes awards for a parent design and a U.S. Shipyard, the slides said.
Under the conceptual design request for proposals with government will provide system specification and government furnished information, the Navy said.
Later, a full and open competition for detail design and construction will occur in FY 2020 with a contract awarded that year.