After years of hesitation and abortive programs, the US Navy faces a significant need to renew its surface fleet, along with a need to extend the size of the fleet. This is how the FFG / X frigate program was launched, within a very short timeframe for the US Navy, to order 20 frigates to strengthen the surface fleet, and in particular its anti-submarine capabilities which have been neglected since the withdrawal of the OH Perry frigate.
It is in this context that Admiral Richardson, Chief of Naval Operations, announced the upcoming launch of a program to replace the Ticonderoga cruisers, on a model similar to the FFG / X program, namely to equip an existing hull with the desired equipment. It identifies 3 key points for this program, namely the use of an existing hull, the energy / electrical production of the vessel that can meet future energy-intensive needs, such as high-energy armies, and modularity, allowing rapid deployment. new sensors or weapon systems on the ship. This new class of fighter ship, which should enter service before 2027, will initially replace the Ticonderoga cruisers, and most likely the A.Burkes Flight 1 Destroyers which will also arrive at the age limit.
This new class of ship will be a response to the Chinese Navy's Type 055 Heavy Destroyers, armed with 124 missile silos, and weighing 13.000 tonnes, which will enter service from 2019, as well as the Russian Lider class heavy destroyers, equipped (depending on the model) with 14t0 missile silos, weighing 17.000 tonnes, and having (a priori) nuclear propulsion.
We are therefore witnessing the return of large combat naval units, in other words cruisers, although they had almost disappeared from the naval forces. It is also likely that with the arrival of directed energy armies, such as projected lasers or microwaves, and RailGun electromagnetic cannons, weapons requiring significant quantities of electrical energy, therefore a hull capable of transport adequate generators, the average tonnage of combat ships will increase in the coming years.
