Huntington Ingalls awarded $70.8 million U.S. Navy contract to further new assault ship

A $70.8 million U.S. Navy contract has been awarded to Huntington Ingalls as its latest installment toward acquiring long-lead-time materials for a new America-class amphibious assault ship. The award was announced on Tuesday by U.S. Senators Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.).

The award represents the seventh contract toward the construction of LHA 9 at the Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula.

“Huntington Ingalls and its talented shipbuilders continue to work hard on behalf of our Sailors and Marines to build the next generation of Navy ships,” Wicker said. “I am glad to see Ingalls receive the funding it needs to continue building LHA 9 and ensuring our Navy remains the best in the world.”

“Long-lead-time contracts allow the Navy to get more bang for the buck by being able to plan in advance for new ship construction. These successive contracts mean our Mississippi shipbuilders will have the materials needed to proceed with construction of this new amphibious assault ship,” Hyde-Smith said.

As with a $113.6 million contract let in November for the LHA 9, this latest award is funded through $500 million in FY2021 appropriations approved by Congress for advanced procurement of the LHA 9 amphibious assault ship. Work associated with this contract is expected to be completed by April 2024.

Designed to deliver a Marine Expeditionary Unit using rotary lift and fixed wing aircraft, the America-class amphibious assault ships function in many ways like a smaller aircraft carrier.