From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov

Transcript for: Navy Frigate: Design and Construction Challenges

Description: In 2017, the Navy began the Constellation class Guided
Missile Frigate program in response to the shortcomings of the Littoral
Combat Ship and evolving threats. Over the next 2 decades, the Navy
plans to acquire up to 20 frigates-- multi-mission, small surface
combatant warships-- at a combined cost of over $22 billion. Delays in
completing the ship design have created mounting construction delays
with the lead frigate forecasted to be delivered 36 months later than
initially planned.

Related GAO Work: GAO-24-106546. Navy Frigate: Unstable Design Has
Stalled Construction and Compromised Delivery Schedules

Released: May 2024

[ GAO's Shelby Oakley, Director, Contracting and National Security
Acquisitions, speaking ]

[ Shelby Oakley: ]

The Navy's frigate program or its Constellation class of ships are a
multi-mission small surface combatant that are based on a European
frigate design. The frigate program was put in place because of failures
on the Littoral Combat Ship program. It's going to cost about $22
billion over the next few decades to procure about 20 ships. The design
has slowed and construction has stalled and the Navy has recently
reported at least a three year delay in lead ship delivery from 2026 to
2029.

What we found on this program was that the Navy had poor metrics for
understanding design progress. The biggest thing that we point out in
our report is the Navy has proceeded with construction on the lead
frigate without completing the design of the ship, so they're building a
ship without actually having it designed. Our report recommended several
actions that the Navy could take to improve its performance on this
program in the long run.

One of these changes that our report recommends is iterative
development. The Navy could focus on what are those near-term things
that can be achieved with speed such that we can field these ships and
then focus on continuing to modernize them and upgrade them going
forward. 

For more information, check out our report at GAO.gov.
 
[ End ]

For more info, check out our report GAO-24-106546 at: GAO.gov