A destroyer navy's difficulty defining its frigates

A second FFX flight is predicted to need a different design unless substantial work goes into the existing basis. The concern is that the US Navy's ambitions for smaller combatants extend beyond what this patrol frigate provides. In this institutional interpretation, Congress encouraged frigate adoption to support standardization among NATO navies, while the post-World War II Navy retained its identity as a destroyer navy. That preference helps explain the difficulty of defining frigate requirements. This is an assessment of the design's fit with future ambitions, with no announced decision on a second flight established here.