Navy has not set VLS cell number for FFG(X)

By Justin Katz / December 5, 2017 at 4:11 PM

The Navy is mulling how many Vertical Launch System cells will outfit the guided-missile frigate replacement, according to a top surface warfare official.

The final request for proposals for FFG(X) was released last month, and industry must submit its conceptual designs to the Navy no later than Dec. 18.

The Navy's guided-missile frigate replacement will synergize several different systems from Littoral Combat Ships, which will help to avoid stovepiping unique skill sets, Rear Adm. Ronald Boxall, surface warfare director (N96), told reporters following remarks at a Washington conference yesterday.

The frigate will also have an Enterprise Air Search Radar, Boxall said.

"This is that Common Modular Radar that’s built off of our SPY-6 that’s built out in DDG Flight III," he said. "We're just taking a smaller version."

Boxall also said the frigate will have a Vertical Launch System, but the Navy has not determined the number of cells.

"By doing those types of synergies, you can certainly see where training, where manning, where combat system integration becomes a lot simpler," Boxall said. "It doesn't create these stovepipes of very unique skill sets that become very costly when you start multiplying them by the number of ships in combinations we have out there."

192002