The US Naval Sea Systems Command has awarded Huntington Ingalls Industries’s Newport News Shipbuilding a $228.m million contract modification to purchase additional long lead time material to be used for the construction of Enterprise (CVN 80).
Long lead time materials contracts allow the shipbuilder to purchase parts and equipment in advance and thereby speed up construction.
Enterprise is the third Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier which started construction with a steel cutting ceremony in August 2017.
Designed to replace Nimitz-class carriers, the Ford class features a new nuclear power plant, a redesigned island, electromagnetic catapults, improved weapons movement, an enhanced flight deck capable of increased aircraft sortie rates, and growth margin for future technologies.
A contract for the construction start of CVN 80 is expected to be awarded in early FY 2019. Advanced planning and initial long-lead-time material procurement for the ship began in May 2016.
HII is the sole builder of US Navy aircraft carriers and is currently constructing the second ship in the class, the future USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) , after delivering the lead ship in the class to the navy in June 2017.