The U.S. Navy released the final solicitation for companies to bid on the design and construction of the next generation of guided-missile frigates, the FFG(X).

The request for proposals, or RFP, are for the first 10 ships — one base ship and nine option vessels. The Navy said Thursday it expects to award a contract to one company in fiscal year 2020.

Interested bidders will have until Aug. 22 to submit their technical proposals to the Navy and until Sept. 26 to submit their pricing proposal, USNI News reported.

The Navy released a draft RFP to industry on March 1 and hosted an Industry Day event on March 19 to gain feedback.

The Navy wants more weapons and capabilities than the two current littoral combat ships currently in production.

The branch said the next-generation frigate will have "multi-mission capability to conduct air warfare, anti-submarine warfare, surface warfare, electronic warfare and information operations. " The ship would have at least 32 vertical launching system cells and an AEGIS-based combat system.

The Navy awarded five development contracts in July 2018 to shipbuilders to refine an existing parent hull design as a basis for the frigate, which must be build in domestic shipyards, according to federal law.

The $15 million contracts were awarded to Huntington Ingalls Industries, Austal USA, Lockheed Martin, Fincantieri Marine and General Dynamics Bath Iron Works to refine their own frigate parent designs.

Navy acquisition executive Hondo Geurts told Congress last year he anticipates the lead ship's cost will be $1.2 billion.

Lockheed Martin, which builds the Freedom-variant littoral combat ship, was part of the early process but announced it would not continue with the frigate competition. Austal USA is building four Independence-class LCS ships in Mobile, Ala.

The Navy wants to reach the full requirement of 20 ships and is planning a second contract closer to fiscal year 2025 for the next 10 ships "to ensure more accurate pricing on out-year ships." This will be beyond the six years planned for this initial contract.

A parent ship design must have been through production and demonstrated in full scale at sea.

The first ship would be outfitted 72 months after contract award.

Cherokee Nation is name for Navy's newest towing, salvage, rescue ship
Washington (UPI) Jun 21, 2019 –

The U.S. Navy's newest towing, salvage and rescue ship will be named Cherokee Nation, the military branch announced Friday.

"It is my privilege to announce that the many Cherokee Nation citizens who've served throughout the years will be remembered with the highest honor a Secretary of the Navy can bestow, the naming of a ship," Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer said in a news release. "The future USNS Cherokee Nation will expand our capabilities and form a critical backbone for the strength and readiness of our entire fleet."

Four other ships have been named in honor of the Cherokee Nation: a blockade gunboat during the American Civil War, a steam yacht built in 1903 and commissioned as a patrol ship in the Atlantic during World War I, a boat built in 1891 but commissioned as a tug during World War I and a World War II-era tug

The Cherokee Nation is the federally recognized government of the 360,000 Cherokee citizens over 7,000 square miles in Northeastern Oklahoma.

"The Cherokee Nation is extremely honored that the U.S. Navy is recognizing our tribal nation and the generations of Cherokee men and women who have bravely, and humbly sacrificed for our freedom today," Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Bill John Baker said. "Our Cherokee people have contributed in every major battle and war ever fought in this country, and continue to serve in the Armed Forces in some of the highest rates per ethnicity."

A Cherokee member, Joseph James "Jocko" Clark, was the first Native American to graduate from the Naval Academy and went on to command the USS Suwannee and USS Yorktown during the Battle of Midway in World War II, according to Cherokee Nation in a news release.

All seven of the planned class of ships will be named in honor of prominent Native Americans or Native American tribes.

The future USNS Cherokee Nation, which is designated as T-ATS 7, is the second ship in class.

In March, T-ATS 6 was named in honor of the major contributions the Navajo people, who occupy 27,000 acres in Arizona, Utah and New Mexico with a population of roughly 250,000.

The ships serve as open ocean towing vessels, and support salvage operations and submarine rescue missions.

The Cherokee Nation will be built at Gulf Island Shipyards in Houma, La., and is expected to be completed in July 2021, according to the Navy.

The company has been awarded $522.7 million to build the seven ships, including $63.5 million contract option for the design and construction of the ship class signed in 2018. It replaces the current T-ATF 166 and T-ARS 50 Safeguard class ships in service with the U.S. Military Sealift Command called

The company is contracted to build one ship per year through 2025.