The
restart of the U.S. Navy's DDG 51 Arleigh Burke destroyer building program
swung in to a higher gear Sept. 26 with the award of two construction
contracts and an option for a third.
Huntington Ingalls Industries received a $697.6 million contract to
build the yet-to-be-named DDG 114 at its Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula,
Miss.
General Dynamics Bath Iron Works was awarded a $679.6 million contract
for DDG 115, to be built in Bath, Maine.
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As the low bidder
between the two, Bath also was awarded a contract option for DDG 116.
DDG 114 and 115 are funded in the 2011 defense act. Money for DDG 116
is included in the 2012 budget request, currently under consideration
by Congress.
Ingalls on June 15 was awarded a $783.6 million contract to build DDG
113. The Navy did not reveal that contract amount until Sept. 26 while
negotiations continued for the follow-on ships.
All the construction contracts are fixed-price-incentive agreements.
The prices do not reflect total purchase costs, but are the monies to
design and build them. Other government-furnished equipment, such as
the Aegis combat system from Lockheed Martin, is provided to complete
the ships.
DDG 113 will become the 63rd ship of the class, which originally had
been planned to conclude with the 62nd ship. The Navy in 2008 altered
its destroyer programs, shrinking the larger DDG 1000 Zumwalt class
from seven to three ships in favor of continuing DDG 51 construction.
The new ships will be delivered with Integrated Air and Missile Defense
(IAMD) capability, giving them the ability to track and intercept enemy
ballistic missiles. As currently configured, the DDG 1000s lack that
ballistic missile defense capability.
Arleigh Burke herself was commissioned in 1991. The latest Ingalls destroyer,
William P. Lawrence (DDG 110), was commissioned on June 4, while the
most recent Bath ship, the Spruance (DDG 111), will be commissioned
Oct. 1 at Key West, Fla. Bath is currently working to complete Michael
Murphy (DDG 112), and is also building all three DDG 1000-class ships.
From:
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=7795790&c=AME&s=SEA
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