US shops allied frigates as China shipbuilding gap widens — SkimNews
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- US Navy is evaluating Japan's Mogami class, South Korea's Chungnam class, and Turkey's Istanbul class guided-missile frigates under an August 2026 Trump administration directive, invoking a national security interest waiver to bypass statutory prohibitions against foreign-built combatants for the first time in over a century.
- Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao ordered a formal review due in November 2026 exploring a "Finland model" in which allied yards would build the first two hulls before transferring technology, investment and serial production to US shipyards.
- US Congress is pushing back through draft Fiscal Year 2027 defense policy bills in both chambers that seek to eliminate the executive waiver and restrict funding for foreign-manufactured warships.
- Constellation-class program was canceled in November 2025 after US redesigns of Italy's FREMM design triggered weight growth exceeding 10%, pushing unit costs to $1.5 billion and delivery three years late; four of six planned hulls were cut, with funds redirected to uncrewed vessels and amphibious craft.
- China's shipbuilding dominance frames the strategic urgency: a 395-ship fleet in 2025 against 294 US battle-force ships, with Chinese yards producing more than 53% of global commercial ship tonnage while US output is effectively zero.
- Japan's Mogami class leads allied candidates with 6,200-metric-ton displacement, a 90-person crew, an 18,500-kilometer cruising radius and a 32-cell vertical launch system — versus 16-cell configurations on both the Chungnam and Istanbul classes.
Why it matters: The allied frigate shopping reflects a hard admission that the US shipbuilding base cannot scale fast enough: Chinese yards produce over 53% of global commercial tonnage while US output is effectively zero, and the Constellation-class collapse proved domestic redesigns spiral into billion-dollar overruns. Whether the "Finland model" becomes a bridge to renewed domestic production or a permanent foreign dependency hinges on the November 2026 review and whether Congress strips the waiver in the FY2027 defense bill.
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