WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The US Navy is encountering more problems with designing its new proposed force of 20 Constellation-class frigates and even before the first one is properly designed, they are three years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report said.
Over at least two decades, the Navy’s Constellation class Guided Missile Frigate program plans to acquire and deliver up to 20 frigates – multi-mission, small surface combatant warships at a combined cost of over $22 billion, the report said.
However, the Navy lacks visibility into the true scope of work remaining to stabilize the frigate’s functional design and the extent to which ongoing delays in completing the design will have on construction of follow-on ships, the report said.
“It is, therefore, uncertain when fleet operators will have the new frigates available for mission tasks,” the report also said.
The Navy’s decision to begin construction before the design was complete is inconsistent with leading ship design practices, the report added.
Then, design instability caused weight growth and therefore the frigate’s 3D design was still incomplete over a year after construction began, according to the report.