
The Navy’s frigate program has entered into the preliminary design phase, bringing the service one step closer to buying 20 upgunned Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) with improved survivability.“We now have design baselines, and we’re going to enter into preliminary design,” Capt. Dan Brintzinghoffer, the Navy’s frigate program manager, said during a Thursday speech to the American Society of Naval Engineers. “The output of the preliminary design phase will be contract level design information so that the companies who would then…