Overview
- The Navy’s lead-yard award to HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding on Tuesday authorizes production design completion, long‑lead buys, and pre‑construction, with work slated to run through April 2028.
- Ingalls will start cutting and shaping raw material in Pascagoula using leftover steel from a canceled National Security Cutter hull, with $80.6 million obligated now from fiscal 2026 shipbuilding and research funds.
- The new frigate adapts the Coast Guard’s Legend‑class hull, with a notional fit that includes a 57 mm gun, a missile-based close‑in weapon system, racks for 16 Naval Strike Missiles, and study provisions for vertical launch cells, anti‑submarine gear, and unmanned teaming.
- Budget plans call for one ship in fiscal 2027 at about $1.4 billion, another in 2029, and two in 2031, using sole‑source construction for the first two hulls before moving to competitive awards to spread work across more U.S. shipyards.
- The effort follows the curtailed Constellation‑class program and targets a lead hull in the water by 2028 to handle patrols and escorts that now tie up Arleigh Burke destroyers.