By Dan Middlemiss, 31 May 2024
A highly critical report just released by the US Government Accounting Office (GAO) offers more insight into the currently delayed frigate program in the United States.
Recall that in the selection competition for the new frigate, the US Navy (USN) had insisted that only warships with an established ‘parent design’ could enter the competition. Ultimately, Fincantieri Marinette Marine (FMM) was selected to build the first 10 ships of the class, with the possibility of extending the build contract to an additional 10 ships. Contracts have been let for the first 6 warships, with the lead ship scheduled for delivery in April 2026.
However, scattered reports seemed to indicate that all was not well with the construction program and that schedule delays were expected.
Initially, the delay in delivery of the lead frigate was expected to be at least a year late. Part of the explanation was that almost every design drawing of the parent FREMM design had been modified in some respect. In addition, the Naval Surface Warfare Center’s testing of the modified design found that the ship failed to meet USN standards for operating in heavy seas, there being structural issues with the keel. This was something of an unexpected surprise to say the least.[1]
A follow-up report stated that the delay for the first frigate was now expected to be at least 3 years. This added delay was in part due to FMM’s heavy workload, and difficulties in hiring and retaining skilled workers. But a larger issue was the constant modification of the design to meet the NAVSEA’s higher survivability standards and requirements than those for European navies. It was estimated that instead of the 85 percent commonality with the original FREMM design, the much-altered Constellation-class now shared less than 15 percent commonality.[2]
So troubling was the political impact of these delays, the US House of Representatives was considering a bill to mandate ‘100 percent’ warship design completion before construction could actually begin. This is nearly unheard of for US naval warship building.[3]
Then the bombshell. On 29 May 2024, the US GAO released a damning report on the scheduling delays for the Constellation-class frigate, and in so doing, provided a deeper insight into the causes behind the delays. The report highlighted ‘unstable design’ and ‘inadequate metrics’ as the principal causes of the reported delivery delays. Far too many design changes occurred not only because of the many mandated design changes, but also because the USN, which does track such changes and hence should have been aware of their implications, gave priority to monitoring the quantity of FMM’s completed design documents, rather than to the quality of these documents.[4] A fascinating read!
For those preening with an I-Told-You-So attitude inasmuch as the Constellation option to the Canadian Surface Combatant (CSC) project now seems truly dead, remember, design changes are likely still going on behind-the-scenes as the RCN tries to produce a sellable CSC for Cabinet before the clock runs out and a federal election is called. Potentially, all these design changes and delivery delays lie ahead for Canada. Canada built continuous design modifications right into the CSC project nearly from the outset.
Notes:
1. Mallory Shelbourne and Sam Lagrone, “First Constellation Frigate Delayed at Least a Year, Schedule Assessment ‘Ongoing,’” USNI News, news.usni.org, 11 January 2024 updated 23 April 2024.
2. Mallory Shelbourne and Sam Lagrone, “Constellation Frigate Delivery Delayed 3 Years, Says Navy,” USNI News, news.usni.org, 2 April 2024.
3. Justin Katz, “House poised to require ‘100 percent’ ship design from Navy prior to construction”, breakingdefense.com, 23 May 2024.
4. U.S. GAO, Report to the Committee on Armed Services, House of Representatives, Navy Frigate – Unstable Design Has Stalled Construction and Compromised Delivery Schedules, GAO-24-106546, 29 May 2024.
4 thoughts on “Design Fiddling Stalls Constellation-class Frigate Program”
Wait! This cannot be true! It has to be fake news!
Many of the posts on this Forum have made clear that only Canada, the CAF, and Canadian industry have such problems. No other country or military procurement in all the history of humanity has ever experienced the kinds of issues that arise here all the time.
Surely, you are not implying that the ‘usual crowd’ could be wrong and that complex projects have their share of issues along the way.
Ubique,
Les
It’s actually nice to see delays with this project as all the opponents to the CSC are now suddenly on radio silence when they used to compare the CSC to the FREMM and Constellation Class. All projects face challenges. Part of the reason why the CSC design is dragging on is the hundreds of design changes the government has asked for. It got out of hand and the last briefing I went to in Dec of last year that was pretty much stopped dead in its tracks to allow the project to move forward. Pretty much the reason why the VLS wasn’t changed back to a greater number. Things in relation to the design are progressing and test module should be started soon. You could probably see an official signing for the first flight of three ships this year.
Hello Dan. I have read the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) recent “scathing” report with regard to the Constellation Class Frigate program with great interest and frankly a lot of ‘Shock and Awe’ that the program has perhaps irrevocably gone-off-the-rails to the point where the US may have to re-think the program altogether and re-start the frigate program from scratch or even design their own frigates rather than buying a Bergamini Class Frigate proven design and “Americanizing” it. It just doesn’t seem to work the way the program is set up now. It is now costing much more than first envisioned. It is longer, heavier and perhaps slower and it is still not known how all these changes will affect the stability of the platform. The Constellation class program has basically stalled and is at least 3 years delayed until at least 2029-2030 before the first of the 10 FFG 62 frigates is in the water. It seems that for all of our complaining on the time that it is taking Canada to design and build the CSC Frigates, we seem to be better off with the CSC Frigate design, and perhaps have the first CSC Type 26 Frigate in the water well before the Constellation Class is finalized. For all those who wanted Canada to acquire the Constellation class, ‘the grass is not always greener on the other side of the hill.’ One can only hope that the final design for the CSC Frigate will not have most of these problems before contracts are signed, hopefully by the first quarter of 2025.
While I had expected this news, it is certainly disappointing. Why do our governments find it so hard to act in a consistent manner? A single ship cannot be both off-the-shelf and bespoke!