U.S. Navy awards contracts for nine AESA radar-equipped destroyers
NewsAugust 02, 2023
WASHINGTON. The U.S. Navy awarded contracts to two companies to build a total of nine Arleigh Burke-class Flight III guided-missile destroyers (DDG-51) under the terms of five-year contracts.
HII Ingalls Shipbuilding (Pascagoula, Mississippi) will build six of the nine ships during 2023 to 2027, while General Dynamics Bath Iron Works (Bath, Maine) will build the other three, according to the Navy award announcement. Additionally, the contracts include an unspecified number of additional contract options.
The Flight III destroyers -- built around the new AN/SPY-6 active electronically scanned array (AESA) 3D radar -- are slated to replace the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser as the primary air-defense platform of the Navy's carrier strike group.
The Navy award announcement did not specify a dollar value on the contracts, as the U.S. Department of Defense said that information is "considered source selection sensitive information and will not be made public at this time."
