The US Navy has exercised another option for the procurement of the third Constellation-class frigate, the USS Chesapeake (FFG 64).
Awarded to Fincantieri Marinette Marine (FMM) on June 16, the contract is worth $536.8 million and has a completion date of August 2028.
The contract award comes after the program recently successfully completed the critical design review milestone, and is proceeding to production readiness review and start of production for the lead ship, USS Constellation (FFG 62).
On April 30, 2020, FMM was awarded the contract for the design, construction and delivery of the first 10 FFG 62 class ships.
The Constellation-class is envisioned as a survivable multi-mission platform designed for operations in blue water and the littoral environments. The frigates are designed to operate independently or as part of carrier/expeditionary strike group or a surface action group, and are manned and equipped for navy composite warfare and joint maritime operations.
FFG ships will include an enterprise air surveillance radar (EASR) radar, Baseline ten (BL10) AEGIS combat system, a Mk 41 vertical launch system (VLS), communications systems, MK 110 57mm guns and electronic warfare/information operations capabilities. The frigates will also conduct offensive and defensive anti-submarine warfare.
The ships are based on Fincantieri’s FREMM frigate design, which is in service with the navies of France and Italy, as well as Egypt and Morocco.
The Secretary of the Navy named the first three ships in the class USS Constellation (FFG 62), USS Congress (FFG 63) and USS Chesapeake (FFG 64). These names honor the original heavy frigates that the US started to build in 1794.
