# Project 3085 — FF(X)

**Program element:** 0603599N — FRIGATE Development  
**Project:** 3085  
**Component:** U.S. Navy  
**Appropriation:** 1319 — RDT&E, Navy  
**Budget Activity:** 4 — Advanced Component Development & Prototypes  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603599N/3085  
**Parent:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603599N

## Summary

Project 3085 — FF(X) requests $212.0M in FY2027, 100% of the $212.0M requested for program element 0603599N, up 161% on FY2026. 2 R-2A activities decompose the request. Contractors is the largest named R-3 performer at $10.6M, 5.0% of the project's FY2027 R-3 total.

## Funding profile

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 0.0 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 81.2 |
| FY2027 | Request | 212.0 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 247.6 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 193.7 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 197.3 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 195.6 |

> Estimate types are not summed. This project is one leaf of PE 0603599N; the PE total is the sum of its projects, never added to them.

## What project 3085 buys

The FF(X) Frigate is a strategic necessity to close a significant shortfall in the Navy's small surface combatant inventory and to build a more balanced, flexible fleet. Frigate directly supports the 2025 National Security Strategy which calls for, "A more suitable Navy presence to control sea lanes, to thwart illegal and other unwanted migration, to reduce human and drug trafficking, and to control key transit routes in a crisis". FF(X) will be a vanguard of the Navy's Hedge Strategy, within the General-Purpose Force handling routine missions across the globe and freeing the Main Battle Force to remain focused on high-end combat. FF(X) will act as the command ship for Tailored Offsets, specifically Robotic and Autonomous Systems (RAS), and integrating with RAS to lead Tailored Forces into a cohesive warfighting approach. As the low-end anchor of the Golden Fleet high-low mix, the Frigate will relieve high end assets such as Arleigh Burke-Class destroyers from missions that do not require large multi mission combatants, including maritime interdiction and counter drug operations. Its primary role is to execute surface warfare, Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems (C-UAS), and Command and Control (C2) of Unmanned Systems missions as well as others as enabled through containerized payloads, all through a highly producible, cost effective and adaptable platform. These containerized payload capabilities are aligned with and supported by the Navy's dedicated containerized payloads program, enabling rapid integration and fielding of mission modules, including containerized Vertical Launch System (VLS) payloads. This ensures that while Flight I of the FF(X) Class (currently planned as at least the first 2 ships) does not incorporate a traditional fixed VLS battery, it retains the capability to deploy VLS-equivalent payloads through modular, mission-tailored configurations. To deliver at speed and scale, the Navy is acquiring its new class of Frigates based on Huntington Ingalls Industry's (HII) Legend-class National Security Cutter (NSC) design - a proven American built ship that has been operational for 17 years with ten delivered cutters, protecting U.S. interests at home and abroad.

**R-3 lines of work:** Product Development; Support; Test and Evaluation; Management Services.

## Named R-3 performers

| Performer | $M | Share of this project's FY2027 R-3 total |
|---|---|---|
| Contractors | 10.6 | 5.0% |
| NIWC | 6.8 | 3.2% |
| Govenment Activites | 6.2 | 2.9% |
| OPTEVFOR | 4.0 | 1.9% |

> Budget-justification contract funding, not obligations. Shares need not reach 100% — unnamed and government work is in the denominator.

## Activities (R-2A) — 2

| Activity | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 | Move | Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ship Systems /C4I / Warfare Systems Engineering | 0.0 | 68.9 | 176.0 | +156% | [a0](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603599N/3085/a0) |
| Test & Evaluation | 0.0 | 12.3 | 36.0 | +192% | [a1](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603599N/3085/a1) |

> Activities carry the prior, current and budget year only — no five-year plan. In the request year they partition this project exactly; in earlier years they can under-cover it.

### Ship Systems /C4I / Warfare Systems Engineering

Continue systems engineering and platform integration efforts for C4I, Combat, and Aviation systems. Begin System Qualification Testing (SQT) of the Combat Management System (CMS) and initiate Combat System Integration (CSI) Testing to verify system functionality, interoperability, and readiness for integration into the total ship combat…

Full year-by-year narrative: https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603599N/3085/a0

### Test & Evaluation

Execute live-fire tests in support of generating empirical LFT&E survivability data for verification, validation, and accreditation of multiple LFT&E survivability models. Conduct Cyber Range testing to assess system performance in a representative operational cyber environment and to validate the system's ability to operate securely…

Full year-by-year narrative: https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603599N/3085/a1

## What is NOT on this page

Congressional marks, the R-2 mission description and acquisition strategy, the industry vs government split of the whole request, and related program elements are recorded at **program-element** grain — an NDAA mark lands on a PE, never on a project. They are at https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603599N.

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Navy RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibits R-2/R-2A/R-3, PE 0603599N project 3085 (PB PB2027).
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_program_element(pe="0603599N")`.

*HitchAI is an independent intelligence service, not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Defense. Budget figures are requests/estimates, not obligations.*