After the retirement of Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided-missile frigates, which are also using in the Turkish Navy inventory, the US was looking for a new platform.
In the process named FFG(X) Frigate Program, Fincantieri joined with FREMM, Austal shown its Independence LCS as candidate, Navantia partnered Bath Iron Works joined with Spanish F100 design and Bath Iron Works joined with unknown design. The program, which started with the Request for Proposals File on June 20, 2019, was completed in September 2019. In this context, the US Navy determined its preference in the direction of FREMM and Fincantieri and signed an agreement with the companycosts 795 million USD. The Navy, announced that the agreement has USD 5,6 billion USD option.
Determining the need for a multi-purpose platform capable of performing tasks such as anti-air warfare, electronic warfare, intelligence gathering, anti-surface warfare, and anti-submarine warfare, the US Navy issued a requirement paper that included a large number of equipment. FFG(X) team of the company started to studies with “The battles of tomorrow cannot be won by yesterday's ships.” motto. The design proposed by the company is 151 meters long and 19.8 meters wide. It is stated that the full displacement of the ship, which is stated to serve with 200 crew members, will be 7,500 tons. Frigates will also integrated with the Mk110 57mm main gun which has ALaMO (Advanced Low-Cost Munitions Ordnance) capability, 32 Mk41 VLS vertical launching systems, 16 NSM anti-ship missiles, and RIM-116 RAM close-in weapon system and a massive power generation capability of 12 megawatts. The ships will be equipped with EASR (Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar) radar equipment and advanced electronic warfare systems, in addition to Raytheon's AN / SPY-6 (V) 3 radar and AEGIS combat management system. Platforms that will be managed by the Fully Integrated Bridge Management System and constitute the frigate power of the US Navy will reach a 26 knots per hour speed thanks to the hybrid gas turbine-electric drive system (CODLAG). The FFG(X) will have 6.000 nautical miles range with 16 knots per hour also have two hangars that capable to serve two 10-ton class naval helicopters.
