US builder Huntington Ingalls Industries has unveiled a new patrol frigate design derived from the company's proven US Coast Guard (USCG) National Security Cutter (NSC).
Ingalls Shipbuilding has delivered three National Security Cutters to the USCG, and two more ships are currently under construction. The USCG plans to purchase a total of at least eight NSCs.
"The National Security Cutter is a ship with tremendous capability and a demonstrated operational performance at sea," said Mike Duthu, Ingalls's Coast Guard program manager. "There is a large market for patrol frigates internationally. By combining a stable design baseline with an experienced workforce and active construction line, we have developed a product that could meet the mission needs of several foreign navies."
The patrol frigate could be built at the company's Ingalls Shipbuilding facility in Mississippi. There are two variants: Patrol Frigate 4501 and Patrol Frigate 4921.
Patrol Frigate 4501 is closely aligned with the basic NSC hull with limited design changes. The vessels are 127 metres long with a 16-metre beam, and displace 4,600 tonnes with a full load. Able to operate at speeds of 28-plus knots, they have a 12,000-nautical mile range an endurance of 60 days, with accommodation for 148. The design includes an aft launch and recovery area for two rigid hull inflatable boats (RHIBs) and a flight deck to accommodate a range of aircraft, with twin hangars for storage of one H-60 class helicopter and two rotary-wing unmanned aircraft. The ships are equipped with various sensors and surveillance systems as well as a 57-millimetre gun, a 20- millimetre close-in weapon system and six 50-caliber machine guns.
Patrol Frigate 4921 has additional mission capabilities for anti-aircraft, anti-submarine, anti-surface and mine-warfare provided by a 76- millimetre gun, a 12-cell vertical launch system, an anti-ship missile launcher and torpedo launcher, sonar dome and remote-controlled and manned 50-caliber machine guns.
Both frigates retain the NSC's propulsion system of one LM2500 gas turbine and two MTU20V 1163 diesels in combined diesel and gas configuration. All variants incorporate the current quality-of-life features on the NSC, including modern berthing compartments, entertainment facilities and workout facilities.
