"Delays in completing the ship design have created mounting construction delays," the report said on Wednesday. "The Navy acknowledges that the April 2026 delivery date, set in the contract at award, is unachievable. The lead frigate is forecasted to be delivered 36 months later than initially planned."
Over at least two decades, the Navy's Constellation class Guided Missile Frigate program plans to acquire and deliver up to 20 frigates - multi-mission, small surface combatant warships at a combined cost of over $22 billion, the report said.
However, the Navy lacks visibility into the true scope of work remaining to stabilize the frigate’s functional design and the extent to which ongoing delays in completing the design will have on construction of follow-on ships, the report said.
"It is, therefore, uncertain when fleet operators will have the new frigates available for mission tasks," the report also said.
The Navy's decision to begin construction before the design was complete is inconsistent with leading ship design practices, the report added.
Then, design instability caused weight growth and therefore the frigate's 3D design was still incomplete over a year after construction began, according to the report.