Ingalls Shipbuilding gets Navy contract that could total $3.1 billion

Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula has been selected to build the U.S. Navy’s next large-deck amphibious assault warship, LHA 8.

The announcement was made Thursday and the contract value for planning, advanced engineering and procurement of long-lead material, is $272,467,161.

If options are exercised, the cumulative value of the contract would be $3.1 billion.

Ingalls is the sole builder of large-deck amphibious ships for the Navy. The shipyard delivered its first amphibious assault ship, the Iwo Jima-class USS Tripoli (LPH 10), in 1966 and has since built five Tarawa-class (LHA 1) ships, eight Wasp-class (LHD 1) ships and the first in a new class of amphibious assault ships, America (LHA 6).

The second ship in that class, Tripoli (LHA 7), is under construction in Pascagoula and is scheduled to launch next summer.

“This award adds to the successful amphibious shipbuilding legacy at Ingalls since the 1950s,” said Ingalls Shipbuilding President Brian Cuccias. “This contract shows the Navy’s confidence in our ability to build these ships to the highest-quality standards and to do so affordably for the American taxpayers.”

Ingalls’ 800-acre shipbuilding facility is optimized to build several classes of complex ships simultaneously, he said.

This story was originally published June 30, 2016 at 5:41 PM with the headline "Ingalls Shipbuilding gets Navy contract that could total $3.1 billion."