Ingalls receives contract modification to fund DDG 121 construction

The Ingalls Shipbuilding division of Huntington Ingalls has received a contract modification for funding the construction of the US Navy's DDG 121 Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.

The $604.3 million contract modification was announced on 30 March. DDG 121 is the third of five DDG 51 Aegis guided missile destroyers that Ingalls Shipbuilding will construct under a contract awarded in June 2013.

The five-ship contract is part of a multi-year procurement in the DDG 51 programme. It allows Ingalls to buy bulk material for the ship and move the skilled workforce from ship to ship, enabling more efficient construction. Ingalls will be building DDGs over the next decade.

George Nungesser, DDG 51 programme manager, Ingalls Shipbuilding, said: 'The DDG 51 programme has been the backbone of Ingalls Shipbuilding for the past three decades.

'We now have a hot production line in the shipyard where we can maintain our highly skilled shipbuilding crews in the same working areas for each ship. This will allow increased learning and provide the most efficient way to reduce cost and schedule while building quality ships for the navy. We have a lot of experience and talent throughout our programme, and with the facilities to build ships simultaneously, we will continue to improve as each ship is launched.'

Ingalls has delivered 28 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers so far to the navy. These destroyers are multi-mission ships that conduct crisis management, peacetime presence, sea control, power projection and other operations.