Europeans start work on next-generation combat ship for the 2040s

PARIS — The European Union has started work on a next-generation combat vessel that could enter service somewhere in the 2040s, and the bloc’s defense ministers may sign a letter of intent to pursue the project at a meeting in two weeks, the head of the maritime unit of the European Defence Agency said.

Six EU member states are “very much interested,” including four with bigger navies, Jürgen Scraback, who heads the maritime domain unit at the EDA, told Defense News at the Euronaval conference here, after participating in a panel discussion about the plans.

EU countries are estimated to need at least thirty combat ships in the future, though Scraback said he doesn’t believe all of those would be built within the European Combat Vessel program. The EDA official expects the program budget could exceed €20 billion ($22 billion) in 2024 prices.

“This new generation of vessels will be completely different from the vessels that we have now, because the naval warfare scenario is changing a lot,” said Fernando Miguélez García, chairman of the European Naval Industry Group (ENIG) within the European Aerospace, Security and Defence Industry Association, who was part of the panel discussion.

Design changes would likely entail having a mothership-type capability to carry drones into combat, he added.

EU defense ministers in May tasked the EDA to come up with a concrete project proposal to discuss in November, according to Scraback. The agency held an initial meeting in July to gauge member states’ appetite, followed by a workshop in September to hammer out the high-level requirements for the future vessel.

The future vessel will need to be a compact ship capable of countering “a full spectrum of threats,” including new ones from small UAVs to hypersonic anti-ship missiles, said Ignacio Cuartero, director of the EU Military Staff Concepts and Capabilities directorate within the European External Action Service.

EU defense ministers will meet on Nov. 19 to discuss the project, “so in two weeks’ time, we will get a clear indication what the member states want,” Scraback said. He said Spain and Italy are interested in signing on, while France is not sure yet.

Requirements for the future vessel include a reduced crew, and therefore a high degree of automation, as well as unmanned systems in a range of sizes, according to Scraback.

Based on feedback from member states, the requirement could be for a vessel with a displacement of 8,000 metric tons or more, Scraback said. That’s based on factors such as modularity, the need to embark containerized payloads as well as the ability to equip many small as well as big unmanned systems, according to the EDA official.

By comparison, France’s brand-new FDI defense and intervention frigate displaces 4,500 tons, while the displacement of the French-Italian FREMM frigates is around 6,000 tonnes. The anti-submarine warfare frigates ordered by the Netherlands will have a displacement of 6,650 tons, and Germany’s future F126 frigate will displace around 10,000 tons.

The next generation of combat vessels will have to be “smart ships” that incorporate technologies such as artificial intelligence and a naval combat cloud, according to Cmdr. Alfonso Carrasco of the Spanish Navy’s plans division. Modularity will be important to allow ships to switch between tasks, Carrasco said.

Hypersonic threats will require increased automation and AI to “drastically” reduce reaction time, as well as interconnectivity with other vessels and drones to increase detection capabilities, according to Miguélez García, the ENIG chairman, who is also representative to the EU and NATO for Spanish shipbuilder Navantia.

New directed-energy weapons such as lasers and rail guns will require different types of power generation onboard, including fast energy generation to power those weapons, he said. The future combat vessel will need to be built using new materials such as composites for stealth purposes.

The European naval industry is working to define its technological capability gaps, with the next step seeing how firms can collaborate to close those gaps, according to Miguélez García. The EU industry has “clear gaps” in areas including weapons and sensors, he said.

Companies specialized in weapons are working together to try to define the new types of armaments needed, and how to defend against those weapons, while another group is working on defining the digital architecture and the energy plan required, he said.

The EDA and member states are considering whether to make the future combat vessel a project within the EU’s Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) framework, which would lock in a commitment by heads of state, Scraback said.

Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.

巴黎——欧洲防务局海事部门负责人表示，欧盟已开始着手建造下一代作战舰艇，该舰艇可能在2040年代的某个时候投入使用。欧盟国防部长们可能会在两周后的会议上签署一份意向书，以推进该项目。

欧洲防务局海事领域部门负责人于尔根·斯克拉巴克在参加完有关该计划的小组讨论后，在本次欧洲海军会议上告诉《防务新闻》，有六个欧盟成员国“非常感兴趣”，其中包括四个拥有更大规模海军的国家。

据估计，欧盟国家未来至少需要30艘作战舰艇，但斯克拉巴克表示，他不认为所有这些舰艇都会在欧洲作战舰艇计划框架内建造。这位欧洲防务局官员预计，该计划的预算按2024年价格计算可能超过200亿欧元（220亿美元）。

“新一代舰艇将与我们现在拥有的舰艇完全不同，因为海战形势正在发生很大变化，”欧洲航空航天、安全和国防工业协会下属的欧洲海军工业集团 (ENIG) 主席费尔南多·米格莱斯·加西亚 (Fernando Miguélez García) 说道，他也是小组讨论的成员之一。

他补充说，设计上的改变可能意味着需要具备母舰般的能力，以便将无人机运送到战场上。

据斯克拉巴克称，欧盟国防部长们在5月份责成欧洲防务局（EDA）提出一份具体的项目提案，以便在11月份进行讨论。该机构于7月份举行了一次初步会议，以了解成员国的意愿，随后在9月份举行了一次研讨会，敲定未来舰艇的高级需求。

欧盟对外行动署军事参谋部概念与能力司司长伊格纳西奥·夸特罗表示，未来的舰艇需要是一艘紧凑型舰艇，能够应对“全方位的威胁”，包括从小型无人机到高超音速反舰导弹等新型威胁。

欧盟国防部长将于11月19日举行会议讨论该项目，“两周后，我们将清楚地了解成员国的意愿，”斯克拉巴克说。他表示，西班牙和意大利有意加入，而法国尚未确定。

据 Scraback 称，未来船舶的要求包括减少船员，因此需要高度自动化，以及各种尺寸的无人系统。

斯克拉巴克表示，根据成员国的反馈，这项要求可能需要排水量为8000公吨或以上的船舶。据欧洲防务局官员称，这是基于模块化、搭载集装箱式有效载荷以及配备多种小型和大型无人系统的能力等因素而定的。

相比之下，法国全新的FDI型防御和干预护卫舰排水量为4500吨，而法意联合研制的FREMM型护卫舰排水量约为6000吨。荷兰订购的反潜护卫舰排水量为6650吨，德国未来的F126型护卫舰排水量约为10000吨。

西班牙海军计划部门指挥官阿方索·卡拉斯科中校表示，下一代作战舰艇必须是“智能舰艇”，需要融合人工智能和海上作战云等技术。卡拉斯科还指出，模块化设计至关重要，它可以让舰艇在不同任务间灵活切换。

据西班牙造船企业纳凡蒂亚 (Navantia) 的 ENIG 董事长兼欧盟和北约代表米格莱斯·加西亚 (Miguélez García) 称，高超音速威胁需要提高自动化和人工智能水平，以“大幅”缩短反应时间，还需要与其他舰船和无人机互联互通，以提高探测能力。

他表示，新型定向能武器，例如激光炮和电磁轨道炮，需要舰载不同类型的发电装置，包括快速发电装置来为这些武器提供动力。未来的作战舰艇需要使用复合材料等新型材料建造，以实现隐身性能。

据米格莱斯·加西亚称，欧洲海军工业正在努力明确自身的技术能力差距，下一步将着眼于各公司如何合作弥合这些差距。他表示，欧盟海军工业在武器和传感器等领域存在“明显的差距”。

他说，专门从事武器制造的公司正在共同努力，试图确定所需的新型武器以及如何防御这些武器，而另一组公司则在努力确定所需的数字架构和能源计划。

斯克拉巴克表示，欧洲防务局和成员国正在考虑是否将未来的作战舰艇纳入欧盟永久结构性合作（PESCO）框架内，这将确保各国元首做出承诺。

鲁迪·鲁伊滕贝格是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者。他的职业生涯始于彭博新闻社，拥有报道科技、大宗商品市场和政治方面的经验。