HII to build Flight III DDG 125
The Ingalls Shipbuilding division of Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) has been awarded a contract modification by the US Navy to incorporate the Flight III upgrades to the Arleigh Burke class (DDG 51) guided missile destroyer Jack H Lucas (DDG 125), the company announced on 27 June.
The ship is the fifth of five destroyers under a contract that the company received in June 2013.
DDG 51 Flight III will incorporate the new Advanced Missile Defence Radar (AMDR) that will replace the existing SPY-1 radar installed on the previous DDG 51 ships. To support the new Flight III systems, the installed power and cooling will be increased accordingly.
Arleigh Burke class destroyers are multi-mission ships that can conduct various operations, from peacetime presence and crisis management to sea control and power projection. Simultaneously, DDGs are capable of fighting air, surface and subsurface battles. The ship contains myriad offensive and defensive weapons designed to support maritime defence needs.
HII has delivered 29 Arleigh Burke class destroyers to the US Navy, with the newest ship, John Finn (DDG 113), scheduled to be commissioned on July 15 in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Currently destroyers under construction at Ingalls are Ralph Johnson (DDG 114), Paul Ignatius (DDG 117), Delbert D Black (DDG 119), Frank E. Petersen Jr (DDG 121) and Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG 123).
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