Northrop Grumman Receives $196.5 Million Contract From U.S. Navy for Design and Construction of LHD 8
PASCAGOULA, Miss., May 1, 2001 -- The U.S. Navy has awarded an additional $196.5 million to Litton Ingalls Shipbuilding, a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC), for the continuation of work towards the construction of an eighth WASP (LHD 1) Class large-deck, multipurpose, amphibious assault ship.
Under the modified contract awarded today, Ingalls will purchase long lead material, develop planning for construction of the ship, begin technical manual development for major equipment, perform additional detail design work and procure shore-based spare equipment. The contract modification, in addition to the award today, includes options for later exercise by the Navy for fabricating early ship assemblies and procuring additional material and equipment. The additional value for these options is approximately $82 million.
This modification follows the earlier award of $49.8 million in the contract first announced in July, allowing Ingalls to develop both the contract design and the detailed engineering design for the ship's all-new gas turbine propulsion and electrical power generation systems. The first seven Ingalls-built LHD's were powered by steam propulsion systems.
Congress has appropriated a total of $880 million to date in design and material procurement funding for the LHD 8. This includes $460 million in a 2001 fiscal year defense appropriations measure passed last June in both houses of Congress, in addition to $420 million appropriated in 1999 and 2000.
Today's modification will be followed by additional incremental awards as remaining options are exercised during the calendar year, eventually leading to a ship construction contract, expected in early 2002.
"The award of additional funding for the construction of LHD 8 reflects the strong support for this ship by the Navy/Marine Corps team and the Congress," said Jerry St. Pé, chief operating officer of Litton Ship Systems. "An early start of production of an eighth ship in the class takes full advantage of an ongoing active production line at Ingalls, resulting in more efficient, more cost effective production of the ship, and savings of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars over the life of the procurement process," Mr. St. Pé added.
Ingalls President Dave Wright said work under the original contract has already begun and this contract will fortify continued work towards the construction of the ship.
"In partnership with the Navy, Ingalls will begin significant work in order to accommodate gas turbine propulsion for LHD 8, as well as other advance design requirements associated with the new ship," said Mr. Wright.
Seven of the ships, designed to carry some 2,000 Marines to world trouble spots, have already been delivered to the Navy by Ingalls, with six of them active in the Fleet. IWO JIMA (LHD 7), delivered to the Navy on April 6, will be commissioned in Pensacola, Fla., on June 30.
As the large-deck centerpiece of a Navy/Marine Corps Amphibious Ready Group, LHD's embark, transport, deploy, command and fully support a Marine Expeditionary Unit. The ships are fully capable of amphibious assault, advance force and special purpose operations, as well as noncombatant evacuation and other humanitarian missions. The ships are 844 feet long and displace 40,500 tons.
For operational support, the ship carries its own AV- 8B Harrier II jets, and can carry Osprey (MV-22) tiltrotor aircraft, as well as a full range of Navy/Marine Corps helicopters, amphibious vehicles and tanks.
Additionally, the ships are fully equipped with command and control (C 4 I) systems for flagship command duty. They also have medical facilities, including a 600-bed hospital, second only to the Navy's Hospital Ships in capability.
Ingalls is part of Northrop Grumman Litton Ship Systems (LSS), headquartered in Pascagoula, Miss., which also includes the Litton Ship Systems Full Service Center, also located in Pascagoula, as well as Litton Avondale Industries, located in New Orleans, La., and Gulfport, Miss. LSS, which currently employs more than 17,000 shipbuilding professionals, primarily in Mississippi and Louisiana, is one of the nation's leading full service systems companies for the design, engineering, construction and life cycle support of major surface ships for the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard and international navies and for commercial vessels of all types. LSS has a firm business backlog exceeding $5.2 billion in a variety of naval and commercial shipbuilding programs.
Northrop Grumman Corporation is a $15 billion, global aerospace and defense company with its worldwide headquarters in Los Angeles. Northrop Grumman provides technologically advanced, innovative products, services and solutions in defense and commercial electronics, systems integration, information technology and non-nuclear shipbuilding and systems. With 80,000 employees and operations in 44 states and 25 countries, Northrop Grumman serves U.S. and international military, government and commercial customers.
LEARN MORE ABOUT US: Northrop Grumman news releases, product information, photos and video clips are available on the Internet at: http://www.northropgrumman.com
Contacts: Randy Belote
(310) 201-3335
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