US Navy scuttles Constellation frigate program for being too slow for tomorrow's threats

The US Navy is scrapping an entire shipbuilding program in an effort to find alternatives that can be delivered faster to counter expected threats.

Announced on social media site X by Secretary of the Navy John Phelan, the decision means the Constellation class of frigates will be limited to the two ships currently under construction, instead of the 20 that were planned.

Phelan said he wanted to reshape how the Navy builds and fields its fleet, and axing the Constellation class is the first step toward this goal. A key factor is the need to grow the fleet faster to meet tomorrow's threats, so new classes of vessels that can be built faster will be chosen instead.

What those threats might be wasn't mentioned, but Reg readers can make an educated guess. China has been building up its own naval power rapidly, and now has more ships than ...