A top Navy official Thursday provided lawmakers with updated figures on Constellation-class frigate design progress following significant delays and confirmed the service is still looking into ultimately procuring a new sixth-generation fighter and provided updated figures.
During a House Armed Services Seapower and Projection Force subcommittee hearing, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, and Acquisition Brett Seidle said Secretary of the Navy John Phelan visited the Fincantieri Marinette Marine shipyard in Marinette, Wis., last week while Seidle has visited as well to show leadership is checking progress on the delayed frigate.
Design problems were a major part of the projected three-year delay to the first frigate, the future USS Constellation FFG-62.
In the past year and a half the Navy surged 60 designers to help with that part of the problem, Seidle reiterated.
“We’re at about 83% right now in design completion. Expect to have a functional, capable design, stable design this summer. We also had a red team assessment,” Seidle said.
He added the issues in Marinette continue to be workforce, workload and “some infrastructure. There’s been a lot of work that’s gone on, and we have some different opportunity space there to improve it.”
Seidle projected optimism as he noted there is new leadership with the project at the shipyard and attrition numbers are “coming the right way. I’m encouraged by some of that, but we have work to do to get to the right place there.”
Separately, Seidle confirmed there is still a “strong requirement for a sixth-gen fighter…the Navy position on that is there is a requirement that’s necessary.”
Earlier this year, Adm. James Kilby, acting Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) and Vice CNO, said the decision on awarding a contract for the F/A-XX sixth-generation fighter was being decided by higher-ups at the Department of Defense and White House after the Air Force awarded Boeing the contract for their version of a next-generation aircraft, dubbed the F-47 (Defense Daily, April 7).