Navy's new frigate moves closer to next milestone.

• Position: From the National Defense Blog

The Navy is preparing to release a draft request for proposals for a new frigate by spring. "We'll put a draft RFP on the street... in the next two months," said Capt. Dan Brintzinghoffer, program manager for frigates at the program executive office for the littoral combat ship. "Then the RFP would be at the end of the year."

The Navy is planning to purchase 40 littoral combat ships and a variant of the vessel known as a frigate. The total purchase reflects the reduction of 12 ships that outgoing Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter ordered in 2015.

The program office is working to mature the design of the frigates before the RFP is released, said Rear Adm. John Neagley, program executive officer at PEO LCS during a panel discussion at the Surface Navy Association's annual conference.

"We're working through those design turns to make sure that we have a good, mature design before we issue that RFP and before we ... go into contract," he said. The team is "working that very, very closely."

The Navy plans to down select to a single design by fiscal year 2018, Brintzinghoffer said. It is closely working with the prime contractors of the two littoral combat ships, Lockheed Martin and Austal USA.

"We're increasing the lethality. We're increasing...