The U.S. Navy has awarded two contracts totaling more than $9 billion for the construction of 10 Arleigh Burke class (DDG 51) guided missile destroyers, the Department of Defense said in a release.
Huntington Ingalls Industries was awarded a $5,104,668,778 fixed-price-incentive, firm target multiyear contract for construction of six DDG 51 class ships while Bath Iron Works was awarded a $3,904,735,559 fixed-price-incentive, firm target multiyear contract for construction of four DDG 51 class ships, the Thursday, September 27 release said.
The ships will begin construction in fiscal year 2018 and are expected to be completed by 2022.
Both contracts include options for an unspecified additional number of DDG 51 class ships. Options for engineering change proposals, design budgeting requirements, and post-delivery availabilities could bring the total value of the contracts to $9.29 billion – $5.25 billion for Huntington and $4.03 billion for Bath Works.
The two companies competed for the contracts in a limited competition.
Arleigh Burke class ships
The Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer was designed around the Aegis Combat System.
Aegis comprises the MK-41 Vertical Launching System, Advanced Vertical Launch System and Tomahawk Weapon System, and the 10 new ships will be built in the new Flight III variant with a Raytheon-built upgraded AN-SPY-6 radar, also called the Air and Missile Defense Radar.
The multi-mission combat ships are capable of anti-air, anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare and can operate independently or as part of carrier strike groups, surface action groups, expeditionary strike groups or missile defense action groups, according to the Navy.
It’s unclear how long the Flight III variant is but the Navy says it can displace 9,800 tons. The Flight I and II variants were 153.92 meters and the Flight IIA was a slightly longer 155.29 meters.
Arleigh Burke class destroyers have operated in Europe in support of NATO missions, and throughout the Fifth and Sixth Fleet areas of command as part of the Global War on Terror.