Lockheed Martin’s frigate offering to the Hellenic Navy is based off the Multi-Mission Surface Combatant sold to Saudi Arabia.(File)

WASHINGTON: Lockheed Martin is offering an adapted version of its Multi-Mission Surface Combatant for the Greek government’s future frigate program, which is scheduled to be awarded later this fall. But analyst tells Breaking Defense that the company has stiff competition among several European competitors  — that price will likely be king.

The Greeks “want to get the most they can [out of the deal] … And they have some demands, and they’re difficult,” said Guy Stitt, president of AMI International, a naval analytics firm tracking and analyzing ship procurements in dozens of countries.

The list of competitors to provide the four Greek frigates is long, according to data from AMI. Among the candidates is the Dutch shipbuilder Damen with its Sigma 11515 frigate, the German firm Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems offering MEKO A200 or MEKO A300 frigates, British firm Babcock and its Arrowhead 140 and the Naval Group out of France offering the FDI/Belharra frigates.

Last, but not least, are the Italians: Fincantieri is proposing its FREMM design, which scored a major win last year having been selected by the US Navy to be the parent design for the American future frigate, now called the Constellation class. All the competitors’ offers include varying levels of Greek industrial participation, as well as proposals for interim capabilities.

This is without mentioning some firms who AMI believe, but have not confirmed, have been eliminated the competition.

Historically, the Greeks haven’t purchased many ships from the US in the kind of government-to-government acquisition that would take place if Lockheed is selected for the Hellenic Future Frigate program. The latest exchange Stitt and his team could recall during an interview was some Asheville-class gunboats sent to Greece in the 1960s.

So, what advantages does Lockheed have in a competition against a who’s who of European shipbuilders?

During an interview with Breaking Defense in the run up to this weeks’ Sea Air Space exposition, Joe DePietro, a Lockheed executive, argued the Foreign Military Sales mechanics would play to his company’s advantage. By working the acquisition through the US Navy — the European companies will contract directly with the Greek government — the deal will essentially be guaranteed by the US government.

“The US government is going to oversee and certify the work that Lockheed Martin and the Lockheed Martin team does, and then they’re going to deliver that capability,” he said. “That really lowers the risk, obviously, for the Hellenic Navy.”

Stitt and his team agreed with DePietro’s suggestion that the FMS element is going to be Lockheed’s edge against the Europeans.

“In essence, the Greeks will be able to select the weapon systems and sensors of their choosing and enjoy the sustainability that [Naval Sea Systems Command] and the US can put behind it for the life of this ship,” said Tony Beitinger, vice president of market intelligence at AMI. That is “far beyond” the sorts of warranties or protections private shipbuilding firms usually offer, he added.

But would geopolitics push the Greeks to lean on someone closer to home? “No, I doubt that,” Stitt said. “I think the Greeks are negotiating for the best deal.”

The two key factors to keep in mind when Greece does cut a deal, according to AMI, will be the financing package and the country’s participation in the builds.

Bryan Clark, a fellow at the Hudson Institute and retired Navy officer, told Breaking Defense that MMSC would be a good candidate for the Hellenic Navy’s competition because its local air defense and anti-submarine warfare capabilities would enable it to protect civilian vessels and guard sea lanes near Greek ports. Its smaller draft is also useful for operating out of the smaller ports found in the Aegean Sea, he added.

However, Clark questioned the reliability of MMSC when used by a small Navy with tight funding constraints, given the challenges the US is now facing with the combining gear on the Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship.

“The propulsion architecture (CODAG) is the same as the Freedom-class LCS, which had design flaws the US Navy is making [Lockheed Martin] fix before accepting more hulls,” said Clark. “I assume corrections to the combining gear will be incorporated into the MMSC. Even so, the CODAG architecture may not have the reliability and robustness needed for a small Navy operating under fiscal constraints.”