Navy Awards $282.9M FF(X) Frigate Contract to HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding

The Navy issued HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding a $282.9 million contract award Tuesday to do lead yard work for the new frigate based on the Coast Guard’s National Security Cutter.

A Pentagon announcement noted that the Navy did not compete the contract and said the work should wrap up in April 2028.

The award comes after former Navy Secretary John Phelan cancelled the Constellation-class frigate program last year and opted to pursue a new frigate based on the NSC Legend-class hull built at Ingalls.

The Navy’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget submission, formally unveiled last week, projected the service purchasing one FF(X) in FY 2027, another in FY 2029 and two in FY 2031. The service wants the lead ship in the water by 2028, which is why it pursued the sole-source strategy, according to the FY 2027 shipbuilding justification documents.

“The Lead Yard Support contract will complete design work for production, procure long lead material including pre-production efforts to enable rapid transition to construction,” reads the documents. “Sole-source Construction contracts will then follow for the first two ships. The third and following Frigates will be procured with a competitive strategy that will increase fielding rate to the fleet through production at multiple shipyards and expanded [sic] the shipbuilding industrial base.”

HII chief executive officer Chris Kastner told investors in February during the company’s last Fiscal Year 2025 earnings call that Ingalls had material left over from the cancelled NSC-11 ship it planned to build at its yard in Pascagoula, Miss.

“Under this contract, Ingalls Shipbuilding will begin cutting and shaping raw material to support future phases of work on the main structure foundation and the overall construction sequencing plan of the first frigate,” the company said in a Tuesday news release about the lead yard award. “This new approach will enable a smooth transition from design to production at Ingalls Shipbuilding and eventually across the industrial base.”

On Tuesday, the new Program Acquisition Executive for Maritime released a rendering of the proposed FF(X) frigate based on the modified NSC design. The rendering features an additional bumpout forward of the superstructure, what appears to be a 57 mm main deck gun, a missile-based close-in weapon system and racks to the aft with 16 Naval Strike Missiles.

“Studies for future flights will consider expanded capabilities including Vertical Launch Systems, and Anti-Submarine Warfare systems,” reads FY 2027 budget documents.

The rendering includes two notional medium unmanned surface vessels with containerized platforms. Part of the requirements for the FF(X) include integration with robotic autonomous systems, according to the recent budget request.

“Our PAE Maritime team is continuing to work with our shipbuilding partners to accelerate delivery of needed programs,” the office posted on its Facebook page. “Today’s award to HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding will support our ability to finalize the design, procure long lead time materials, and begin pre-construction activities on our new class of frigates!”