GAO says Constellation class frigates still late – and gaining weight

The Navy’s Constellation-class frigate program, already delayed and hampered by design and construction issues, is heading toward a first-in-class ship that would be at least 759 metric tons heavier, according to a June update from the Government Accounting Office.

“The Navy reported 759 metric tons of weight growth from initial estimates – nearly a 13% increase – due in part to the underestimation of applying Navy technical requirements to a foreign ship design,” reported the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress.

 “Navy personnel are working with the shipbuilder to reduce the ship’s weight, but weight growth has only become more pronounced over the last year as the program further developed the frigate design,” GAO analysts wrote.

The Constellation 496’x34.6’ design (FFG62) is based on the European Franco-Italian Fregata Europea Multi-Missione (FREMM) vessel, lengthened by 23.6’ to “accommodate larger generators and future growth,” according to Navy graphics.

Likewise, displacement was planned in 2021 to increase by around 500 tons.  Fincantieri’s Marinette Marine shipyard in Wisconsin was awarded the Navy contract in 2020. The first of six frigates is expected to be delivered in 2029 – now three years later than the original contracted date.

The GAO issued its annual “Weapon Systems Annual Assessment” in June, examining all of the Department of Defense development and procurement programs across the armed services.

Amid its 233 pages, the GAO paper updates from its earlier report in May 2024 on the Constellation guided missile frigate program, and its effort to build on the European FREMM design.

“When the Navy planned to acquire guided missile frigates—a class of small warship—it took steps aimed at delivering these ships faster,” GAO analysts reported in 2024. “For example, to reduce the risk of design and technology problems, it chose to use many technologies that had already been proven on other ships.”

“However, the Navy undercut this approach by starting construction on the first frigate before finishing its design, among other missteps. Due to ongoing major design challenges, construction on the first ship is at a standstill. Now, the Navy forecasts the ship will be delivered three years late.”

A year later, complications continue according to the new GAO report.

“Since our last assessment, the program continued to face challenges completing its functional design, which is needed to demonstrate design stability,” according to the report. “More than two years after beginning lead ship construction, this persistent lack of design stability stalled construction of the lead ship and poses the same risk to initial follow-on ships.”

Navy planners and shipbuilders are still revising basic design documents and structural components of the ship, an approach “inconsistent with shipbuilding leading practices, which call for completion of basic and functional design activities prior to construction start,” analysts wrote.

After the GAO’s May 2024 report, Constellation program management “restructured its functional design metrics to more closely align with actual design progress,” the report notes. “As a result, the program concluded that its functional design progress is significantly less than the 92% complete it reported in August 2023.”

The Constellation’s increasing weight is concerning because “unplanned weight growth during ship construction can compromise ship capabilities, as the fleet seeks to alter and improve initial capabilities over the planned decades-long service life of the ship,” the report says. “Such alterations may leave frigates less combat capable, limit the ability to add capabilities to address evolving threats, and reduce planned service lives.”