Alongside existing destroyer, amphibious and submarine contracts, the Navy plans to bring in “new, non-traditional partners into the American shipbuilding ecosystem.” These partners will design and build new classes of unmanned vessels “to bring options to the fight,” including work by Saronic, a vertically integrated unmanned surface vessel manufacturer with a shipyard in Louisiana.
The service has also gained approval for what Phelan described as a “generational” investment in auxiliary vessels such as tankers, oilers and logistics ships. He said these ships are urgently needed and that their construction would also help revive America’s shipbuilding industry.
The plan includes “a new frigate, based on an American design… and built on a timeline faster than the program we canceled,” Phelan said, following the termination of future contracts under the delayed Constellation-class programme. The new frigate will be designed in the United States and feature “flexible capability tailored to requirements from our warfighters,” echoing aspects of the Littoral Combat Ship concept.
Phelan added that Trump has also discussed “one more kind of big, beautiful ship,” potentially a heavily armed cruiser. According to the Wall Street Journal, internal administration talks have focused on a 15,000–20,000 tonne combatant capable of carrying systems such as the Conventional Prompt Strike hypersonic missile and operating alongside well-armed unmanned vessels.
