I did miss hat acquisition...thanks for letting me know. How it impacts their opertion here in the states, particularly with Lockheed being the Prime...I am not quite sure.
The F-100, particularly along the lines of the Hobart vessels would be good vessel as well. They will most certainly be able to communicate very well with the rest of the US fleet and Lockheed and Raytheon would end up being involved there as well. And BIW is certainly a strong builder of US vessels all around.
The FREMM vessels are very good as well...and I quite frankly believe that the Italian FREMMs are better armed than the French version.
Quite frankly, even thought the HI frigates are less stealthy in terms of their hull, there is no doubt that they would be strong contenders as well. They did well with the Legend class for the USCG, but I am not sure that design will be a strong contender for the more distant future out into and beyond the 2030s.
My biggest beef with Austral is that there is simply too much Aluminum on them. There frigate offering is well armed.
All of the contenders make good vesses in the end...I simply believe that the Lockheed design not only provides what the Navy wants, they do it closer to what the Navy would want if they had the luxury of starting from scratch, and they do have very strong ties into the Navy and the administration. I still believe they will win the competition...but I have been wrong before.
Time will tell.
One thing for sure is that the US Navy will get an FFG they need and will get what the LCS should have been from the start.
With the FF upgrade, in essence the US Navy will end up with 60 friagte sized hulls and that will end up being a good thing. I would rather have had 55 or 57 full FFGs, but I believe we will see the Navy make good on the hulls they get before all is said and dne.
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