The U.S. Navy is pursuing a new class of smaller, more agile combatant ships that the service says will become a “critical component of the Navy’s fleet of the future.”
The first hull of the future FF(X) class, which will be based on the U.S. Coast Guard’s Legend-class National Security Cutter design, is expected to hit the water in 2028 as a more nimble companion to the Navy’s larger warships, Navy Secretary John Phelan said in a Dec. 19 video announcement.
“To deliver at speed and scale, I’ve directed the acquisition of a new frigate class based on [the design by Huntington Ingalls Industries],” Phelan said, “a proven, American-built ship that has been protecting U.S. interests at home and abroad. President Trump and the secretary of war have signed off on this as part of the Golden Fleet.”
The service is touting the FF(X) as a “highly adaptable vessel” capable of carrying out tasks ranging from surface warfare missions and modular payload transport to unmanned systems operations.
Recent warship deployments to places like the Red Sea and Caribbean have served as glaring reminders of the service’s need for a more flexible frigate class, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle said in the announcement.
“Our small surface combatant inventory is a third of what we need,” Caudle said. “We need more capable blue-water small combatants to close the gap and keep our [guided missile destroyers] focused on the high-end fight.”
Along with a versatile mission capacity, Navy officials are hoping the preexisting Legend-class design will reduce cost and scheduling risks that have plagued the service in recent years.
A March 2025 report by the Government Accountability Office detailed two decades of lackluster performance across U.S. shipyards, which has yielded a general lack of production, ships arriving up to three years behind schedule and faulty functionality among vessels that do hit the water.
At the time of that report, Shelby S. Oakley, a director at GAO, provided a statement to the Senate Armed Services Committee that highlighted unrealistic costs and timing expectations as primary contributors to shipbuilding delays.
Oakley went on to categorize the U.S. shipbuilding industry as one that has been “effectively made to operate in a perpetual state of triage.”
Phelan and Caudle believe the FF(X) class will turn the tide.
“We know this frigate design works,” Caudle said. “We know it operates with the fleet. And most importantly, we know how to build it — now.”
Phelan added that the new class will be acquired using a lead shipyard, with a competitive follow-on strategy for multi-yard construction.
“Shipyards will be measured against one outcome: delivering combat power to the fleet as fast as possible,” Phelan said.
The aim, Caudle said, is to follow a similar approach the service has taken with Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, producing a design that can be upgraded over time as new threats emerge and technology develops.
J.D. Simkins is the executive editor of Military Times and Defense News, and a Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq War.
