US Navy terminates troubled Constellation-class frigate programme

The US Navy’s troubled Constellation-class frigate programme has been terminated, with no guarantee that even the first two ships, currently under construction by Fincantieri Marinette Marine (FMM) in Wisconsin, will ever see service.

Announcing the move, Secretary of the Navy John C Phelan stated on his X social media account on 25 November 2025, “I will not spend a single taxpayer dollar unless it contributes to readiness and our ability to defeat future threats. Every dollar we save must go back into readiness. To keep that promise and meet this moment we are reshaping how the navy builds and fields its fleet. Today I can announce the first major public action in this reshaping: a strategic shift away from the Constellation-class frigate programme.”

Phelan added that the US Navy and FMM “have reached a comprehensive framework that terminates, for the navy’s convenience, the last four ships of the class, which have not begun construction”, adding that, “while work continues on the first two ships, those ships remain under review as we work through this strategic shift.”

FMM received the contract for the lead Constellation-class ship (FFG-62) in April 2020 with a modified design based on the Italian version of the FREMM frigate. At the time the contract for the lead frigate and nine options, plus a support and training package, had a cumulative value of USD 5.5 billion (EUR 4.75 billion). By May 2024 a total of six ships had been ordered.

However, by April 2025 the programme was behind schedule and over budget after multiple changes to the original Italian FREMM design were deemed necessary. This put the US Navy in a position it specifically said it would avoid: spending too much and taking too long with a bespoke design, as had happened with the previous Littoral Combat Ship programme.

In cancelling the Constellation class, Phelan stated, “A key factor in this decision is the need to grow the fleet faster to meet tomorrow’s threats. This framework puts the navy on a path to more rapidly construct new classes of ships and deliver the capability our warfighters need, in greater numbers and on a more urgent timeline.”