Navy Cancels Constellation-Class Frigate Program
news.usni.orgThat’s two cancelled classes…. Seems they’re not sure what they want or can’t hold to a plan. Why not keep building Burke class ships and use missile systems to handle shallow water action. Or drones, possibly gunships with standoff capability.
They are building more Burkes. The Burkes are overloaded so can't add anything else to them.
Before the costs exploded, the Constellation class frigates would have been half the cost of Burke. There are jobs that need a warship, like patrol off Yemen, but the LCS don't have the defenses.
Also, this is not a good sign for Navy ability to build the DDG(X) which will be the successor to the Burkes.
The Constellation class won't be able to do the job of patrolling off Yemen either. Its area area defense capability is too weak. The threat level has escalated now that even terrorist groups have access to advanced drones and cruise missiles.
The Constellation class won't be doing anything cause it was just cancelled.
Its air defense would have been pretty potent. It had the same Aegis system as Burke. The only limitation is it had the medium range Standard instead of the long range one.
Wrong on both counts. The current plan is to still complete the first two Constellation class ships; only the follow-on purchases were cancelled. And the air defense capability is weak due to an insufficient number of VLS cells.
Or maybe drones have transformed the spectrum of naval warfaring.
Drones don't make a big difference to naval warfare because need large ones to have the range and carry big warhead. Then they need speed to cover that distance. That means have basically invented the anti-ship missile. Ships also have the space to carry defenses. The missiles then either get smarter, stealthier, and supersonic to get through.
The big recent change in naval warfare is that anti-ship missiles have gotten common. Ukraine used locally built ones to sink a Russian cruiser. Yemen and Iran have been making them.
I think drones and shoulder launched weapons has forced a rethinking of 20th century weaponry.
Back to Zumwalt / LCS again? :)
Maybe try modifying someone else's again!
Semi-seriously, the Aus versions of the Type 26 (Hunter class) may actually be a good start: it has Aegis Combat System integration (albeit not via RTX) and a larger mast for the SPYs already as RAN needed those changes from the stock Type 26.
It (Type 26) also has better protection and safety than other European designs due to RN design standards being a lot closer to USN ones (and a lot of the modifications to FREMM were related to that).
Hunter is getting locally developed CEAFAR radar, not SPY.
There’s an obsession in the navy with number of ships. It’s not an insignificant number, but it’s line comparing the number of severs you have vs. the competition without taking into consideration their specs.