With a price tag approaching $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion dollars each for the USS Constellation (FFG-62) frigate, Naval News asked RAND and CSIS if the Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel (MUSV) and the DARPA No Manning Required Ship (NOMARS) can replace the troubled FFG-62 frigate program.
The U.S. Navy’s FFG-62 USS Constellation frigate program is in trouble with ballooning costs and schedule delays, and not one new guided missile frigate has been delivered to the U.S. Navy as of May 2025. The U.S. Navy wants 20 of these frigates. However, the lead ship, USS Constellation, has a delivery delay of 36 months (three years) due to the instability of the design that took an European FREMM frigate and made major structural changes such as removing the bow sonar. In fact, modifications to the FFG 62 design have resulted in commonality between the USS Constellation-class and FREMM frigate design dropping from 85% to 15%.
The U.S. Navy’s Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel (MUSV) can be optionally manned whereas the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) No Manning Required Ship (NOMARS) USX-1 is autonomous. Therefore, can MUSVs and NOMARS substitute for the FFG-62 frigates in terms of missions, roles, weapons coverage, and functionalities?
The War in Ukraine has highlighted the importance and significance of using small unmanned surface vessels (USVs) with Ukrainian USVs damaging, destroying, and sinking manned Russian capital warships many times their sizes. Would it make sense for the larger U.S. Navy’s unmanned surface vessels to replace the manned frigate before the frigate program shipbuilders even build 20 FFG-62s?
While the U.S. Navy, Congress, and the Department of Defense debate over whether to continue the FFG-62 program with government cost-cutting and downsizing, Naval News asked the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the RAND Corporation for their analysis and comments on if MUSVs and NOMARS can replace the FFG-62 program.
Mark Cancian, retired U.S. Marine Corps colonel, and Senior Advisor to CSIS’s Defense and Security Department answered this question via email to Naval News in March 2025. Cancian wrote, “Yes, the [FFG-62] Constellation program is a mess, and the Navy is reviewing it, along with other troubled shipbuilding programs. I’m sure they will consider uncrewed options like USX-1. The technologists in the Trump administration, like Musk, will likely advocate for uncrewed options. However, there are some significant problems with shifting to an uncrewed frigate program. The first is mission. The FFG program is intended to pick up missions that don’t require a high-end DDG [AEGIS destroyer]. These would include peacetime exercises working with allies and partners and wartime missions, such as convoy escort. An uncrewed vessel would have a difficult time with these. They work better as remote sensors and shooters connected to the fleet.
“There is also the problem of vulnerability. These are very large vessels to be entirely uncrewed. In peacetime, international law considers uncrewed vessels as derelict and subject to salvage. In wartime, it would be difficult to repair or retrieve such a vessel with a mechanical breakdown. So, I expect a push for smaller, uncrewed vessels, but not for something of this size.
Mark Cancian, CSIS Senior Advisor
“The T-AST Navajo-class would be the natural choice to handle any breakdowns of a large uncrewed surface vessel. Towing and salvage are its mission.
“NOMARS is too large a vessel to be considered `expendable,” said Cancian. “However, it is designed to be `risk-able’ in that its loss would be less damaging than a crewed vessel, and it will go into environments that might be considered too dangerous for crewed vessels.”
Dr. Bradley Martin, retired U.S Navy captain, and Senior Policy Researcher at the RAND Corporation told Naval News via email in March 2025 that,
“Autonomous vessels capable of extended operations can carry out some of the duties of the FFG-62 but not the majority. Unmanned does allow sensing, presence, and remote kinetic engagement. It might not allow managed response to provocative moves – such as close approaches by another vessel – presence in a way that shows human commitment (exercises, port visits), operations such as Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure, or operations where mutual support might be necessary, such as rescue and salvage. FFG-62 fills a niche where human involvement is important.”
Dr. Bradley Martin, Senior Policy Researcher at the RAND Corporation
Dr. Martin went on, “Perspectives on the reasons for FFG-62’s delays vary, but the fundamental problem is that the FREMM hull which was selected for the ship could not readily be configured for the combat systems and survivability requirements of the Navy.
“NOMARS and MUSV can help provide broad area sensor coverage, can multiply the threat axes against which the PLA [People’s Liberation Army, China] might have to defend in the event of a conflict, and can act as decoys forcing the PLA to expend effort to find and engage potential targets,” wrote Dr. Martin. “How much autonomy they will have for weapons release will depend on circumstances and rules of engagement, but adversaries cannot ignore that they can deliver ordnance.
Regarding missions and roles, Dr. Martin said, “FFG-62 will have a variety of battle force roles, some of which might be in independent operations but which might also often be in a CSG or some other formation. During those times that the ships are performing independent operations – such as for Theater Security Cooperation engagement – unmanned options might not be appropriate. Unmanned platforms will be useful for wide area surveillance and to multiply threat axes, but these are not necessarily the best uses for FFG-62.
“Unmanned vessels are subject to attack and seizure, so some kind of defense capability seems appropriate. Note that threat engagement often involves a significant amount of judgment, so the degree of shoot/no-shoot autonomy will be situation dependent. Giving unmanned vessels strike capability and possibly remote air defense missile capability seems essential if we’re going to fully use the advantages of dispersal.”
Naval News asked Dr. Martin if the U.S. Navy should consider the U.S. Coast Guard’s National Security Cutter (NSC) as a light frigate option. “The US Navy needs a frigate. The NSC cutter would have been a good choice and might still be if FFG-62 can’t be brought to production.
“The need for a combatant smaller than a DDG-51 and available for a variety of security cooperation and other employments is separate from the potential value of unmanned. Both have a place in theater architecture, but it’s not the same place.”
