Pentagon Contract Announcement

WASHINGTON --- The Navy today exercised a contract option for a fourth Constellation class guided-missile Frigate. FFG 65 will be built by prime contractor Fincantieri Marinette Marine (FMM). The contract option award was $526,293,001.

First-in-class Constellation (FFG 62) is in production in Marinette, Wisconsin, and sister ships Congress (FFG 63) and Chesapeake (FFG 64) are under contract.

The Constellation class will have multi-mission capability to conduct air warfare, anti-submarine warfare, surface warfare, electronic warfare, and information operations. Specifically, the FFG 62 class includes an enterprise air surveillance radar, Baseline Ten AEGIS combat system, a Mk 41 vertical launch system, communications systems, MK 57 gun weapon system countermeasures, and added capability in electronic warfare and information operations with design flexibility for future growth.

FMM on April 30, 2020, was awarded the contract for the design, construction and delivery of the first ten Constellation Class Frigates.

PEO USC designs, develops, builds, maintains, and modernizes the Navy's expanding family of unmanned maritime systems, mine warfare systems and small surface combatants.

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TRIESTE, Italy --- The Department of Defense announced that Fincantieri US subsidiary, Marinette Marine (FMM), was awarded a 526 million dollar contract to build a fourth Constellation-class frigate for the US Navy.

The contract for the lead frigate and 9 option ships, signed in 2020, has a cumulative value of 5.5 billion dollars, including post-delivery availability support and crew training.

Fincantieri succeeded in such a high-profile tender, distinguishing itself among several major U.S. shipyards thanks to a project considered as the most innovative and cutting-edge. The Group’s proposal is based on the FREMM frigate platform, globally recognized as the most technologically advanced, and the backbone of a 10-unit program for the Italian Navy which Fincantieri is currently completing.

Construction on the first frigate, the future USS Constellation, began in late August last year in Marinette, Wis., and FMM is scheduled to deliver it in 2026.

Pierroberto Folgiero, CEO of Fincantieri, stated: “Our commitment is to support the largest Navy in the world with a ship that represents the highest possible degree of innovation. We look specifically at the digital profile of the vessels, in terms of cybersecurity and data analytics, two fundamental fronts for the industrial competition of the future”.

FMM is the spearhead of Fincantieri Marine Group (FMG), which controls two other shipyards also located in the Great Lakes (Wisconsin) – Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding and Fincantieri Ace Marine. The company serves commercial and government customers in the US.

FMM is committed to the Littoral Combat Ships program for the US Navy and the Multi-Mission Surface Combatants (MMSC) program for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as part of the US Foreign Military Sales plan.

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