Tongdao Think Tank 2024-02-06 11:41 Hebei.
The U.S. Navy continues to move in the direction of procuring the first Constellation-class frigates, and a major question remains: is 32 vertical launch system (VLS) units enough for these ships?
The debate over the Constellation's vertical launch capabilities reflects broader concerns, including how to reload these launchers at sea in the event of a major conflict across the Navy. Recently, the underlying problem here has become even more apparent as the ** shot down dozens of Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones, and launched attacks on the group in Yemen.
1.At least 20 ships will be purchased in the future
The Constellation class will be the next generation of small surface combatants for the US Navy, which has said in the past that it wants to purchase at least 20 in the future. These will be multi-mission ships with anti-aircraft, anti-ship and anti-submarine capabilities, designed to complement larger surface action groups or operate independently.
The US Navy's decision to purchase new frigates is a harsh "condemnation" of these two classes of Littoral Combat Ships (LCS), which have always performed poorly. In total, the U.S. Navy has procured about 30 Littoral Combat Ships since the late 2000s and is still waiting to receive more, although it has been sending relatively new Littoral Combat Ships into mothball.
Despite the fact that the Freedom-class and Independence-class littoral combat ships are designed to perform many of the same tasks as the Constellation-class frigates, they have been particularly criticized for their very limited ** armament. The constant lack of air and missile defense capabilities of their littoral combat ships is especially noticeable in addition to close defense. The conspicuous absence of Freedom and Independence-class ships in and around the current crisis in and around the Red Sea, which by definition is a littoral combat environment, has led to the vague use of these ships and a low return on investment after years of service in the Navy.
The US Navy currently has four "Constellations" under contract - the future Constellation (FFG-62), the USS Capitol (FFG-63), the USS Chesapeake (FFG-64) and the USS Lafayette (FFG-65) - all of which will be built and designed by the American subsidiary of the Italian group Fincantieri Marinet Marine. The U.S. Navy currently plans to order four more ships by the end of fiscal year 2028 and is still considering hiring a second shipyard to accelerate the construction of more hulls in the future.
The Navy also put forward the idea of transforming the Constellation program into a multinational cooperation. Just this week, Greek Defense Minister Nicholas Dendias announced that Greece has officially expressed its interest in joining the American frigate program and producing up to seven such ships or their variants at Greek shipyards.
When the first "Constellations" began to be put into service is not known and depends on a number of factors. The upcoming aircraft carrier Constellation is already at least a year behind schedule. As a result of this delay, the first frigate is expected to be delivered at least in 2027. All hulls currently ordered are expected to be commissioned in 2029.
2.32 VLS units
In 2020, the US Navy announced the selection of a derivative of the Italian Fregata Europe Multi-Mission (FREMM) design as the winner of the FFG (X) frigate competition. Originating as a Franco-Italian collaborative project, the design of the FREM was developed by the Italian fincantieri and the French naval group.
It is worth noting that the core requirement for the FFG (X) is that it is based on the "mother" design being produced, but the Constellation-class ships will be significantly different from the existing FREM types. The "Americanized" constellation class based on FREMM is longer, wider, and has greater displacement, among other differences. These and other changes have resulted in almost all technical drawings being changed and have been a major factor in production delays to date.
Figure: Differences between the design of the Constellation class and the "European Multipurpose Corvette" (Fremm).
When it comes to vertical launch system (VLS) capabilities, questions have already been raised about the configuration of the new frigate MK 41 array for the Navy even before the choice of a design based on the FREM. The FFG(X) program was first publicly announced in 2017 and the initial threshold required only 16 VLS units. By the end of the auction, that number had increased to 32.
For comparison, the Navy's Flight I and II Arleigh Burke-class destroyers each have 90 MK41 VLS units. The three Zumwalt-class destroyers of this service are equipped with the MK 57 VLS array, which is derived from the MK 41 and has a total of 80 cells (the ships are also equipped with all new large vertical launch tubes, which are mainly used to launch hypersonic missiles). The US Navy's Ticonderoga-class cruisers are the last cruisers expected to be decommissioned by the end of the decade, each with 122 MK 41 VLS units.
In addition, the Navy's FFG (X) requirements require ships to carry only the SM-2 Block IIC and the RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM) surface-to-air missiles in their VLS units. The ESSM is small enough to package four of them into a single MK 41.
In the course of the FFG (X) competition, the Navy also stated plans to integrate some type of vertical-launch anti-submarine ** on these frigates in the future. It is not clear whether this is a reference to the Navy's existing RUM-139 family of vertically launched anti-submarine rockets (VL-ARSOC) (which is now also marketed as a vertically launched anti-submarine missile or VLA) or a follow-up design. All models of the VL-ASROC VLA carry light anti-submarine torpedoes as their payload.
It is not known what version of the MK 41 the Navy currently plans to install on its Constellation-class frigates, although it was initially assumed that the ships would use a shorter version of tactical length. The SM-2 Block IIIC, ESSM, and VL-Arsoc VLA can all be launched from the tactical length variant of this VLS.
However, in the annual Defense Policy Act or National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2023, the U.S. Congress inserted a requirement for the Navy to integrate the SM-6 and Tomahawk cruise missiles into the Constellation-class frigates, starting with the second hull, both the SM-6 and the Tomahawk require a longer strike length MK 41 VLS array.
The SM-6 is primarily designed as a long-range surface-to-air missile, but also has the ability to strike land or sea targets. Tomahawks are likewise focused on land attacks, but also have anti-ship capabilities. The US Navy is currently procuring a further anti-ship optimized version of the missile, called the Sea Strike Tomahawk.
SM-6 may not be out of reach. Tomahawks are a little different. If you're trying to install a Tomahawk kit, like on a Flight III [Arleigh Burke-class destroyer], it's not suitable for a frigate, and earlier this month, Rear Admiral Kevin Smith, executive officer for the Navy's unmanned and small combatant programs, said, "My leadership has made it very clear that we don't want to change the baseline until we reach a certain point." ”
February** Dynamic Incentive Program