USN Awards Litton $338.2M Contract

Litton Ingalls Shipbuilding won a $338.2 million contract to build DDG 100, an additional DDG 51 Class Aegis guided missile destroyer for the United States Navy. The contract, awarded late last Friday, represents the funding for a Fiscal Year 2001 ship included in a multi-year contract awarded to Litton Ingalls in March 1998.

With the award of DDG 100, Litton Ingalls has been awarded contracts to build 24 Aegis destroyers, of which 13 ships have been delivered. A 14th ship, USS LASSEN (DDG 82), completed successful initial predelivery sea trials last month and will be commissioned in mid-2001. The Navy plans a total of 57 ships in the DDG 51 program, of which 51 have now been procured.

"This contract reemphasizes Litton Ingalls Shipbuilding's commitment to building the most advanced surface combatants for the U.S. Navy, as we have continued to do since we delivered USS BARRY (DDG 52) in 1992," said Jerry St. Pe, executive vice president of Litton and chief operating officer of Litton Ship Systems. "The Navy's multi-year procurement approach has brought stability to the Aegis destroyer program, to our nation's shipbuilding industrial base, and to our company's business planning process. Delivery dates on DDG 51 destroyers at Litton Ingalls extend into 2006 and will keep our experienced, seasoned workforce of destroyer builders engaged well into the 21st century."

The ships are 509.5 feet long, with a beam of 66 feet. Four gas turbine engines power the 9,238-ton ships to speeds in excess of 30 knots.