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| The USS Freedom, in the background, sails alongside the USS Independence, in the foreground. These are the lead ships in their respective subclass of Littoral Combat Ships. |
International Military - The frigate is an important asset for the navy, including the US. While the frigates won't be the most advanced ships in the US Navy's fleet, they still play an important role. The US Navy is rumored to be acquiring up to 20 Constellation-class frigates.
Quoted from nationalinterest.org, the US Navy began the process of procuring the Constellation class in 2020. Then the US Navy finally wanted to acquire twenty Constellation class ships.
The Constellation-class ships will be a modification of the existing design. Apart from reducing development costs, the strategy would also be low risk and theoretically result in faster ship deliveries.
The design of the Constellation class derives from a similar Italian-French design, namely the FREMM (Fregata Europea Multi-Missione) frigates. The ship comes in two variants, one for the French Navy and another for the Italian Navy.
In general, the US Navy's version of the ship will be larger. The US ships will also feature redesigned propellers for better acoustics, more powerful generators, and a modified bow design.
In contrast to cruisers and destroyers, frigates are generally intended to operate more in areas of lower threat.
US Navy frigates perform many of the same peacetime and wartime missions as cruisers and destroyers. Since the frigates are meant to do so in areas of lower threat, they are equipped with fewer weapons and less capable radars.
Systems, engineering redundancy and survivability are also inferior to cruisers and destroyers. The Constellation-class ships will be small, multi-mission surface combatants capable of anti-air warfare (AAW), anti-surface (ASuW), anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and electromagnetic warfare (EMW).
The ship must also be able to operate in the blue waters (middle of the sea) and the coast. Initially the ship would be operated by a single crew, but the US Navy eventually wanted to equip the class with a dual crew.
Advanced ships in the Constellation class will cost between USD 850-950 million. The ship is 496 feet long with a beam of 65 feet. The ship is also expected to be serviceable within 25 years and accommodate up to 200 crew.
Some of the armaments that will equip the ship include the MK 110 57 mm rifle, naval attack missiles, the 32-cell MK 41 vertical launch system, and others.