The U.S. Navy awarded General Dynamics NASSCO a $24.4 million contract modification to refine the design of the Navy’s proposed LX(R) amphibious ship replacement. Work is expected to last until September 2017.
The Navy made the announcement Aug. 16.
Some 77 percent of the work will be performed in San Diego. NASSCO has a shipyard in Barrio Logan but its design department is in Mission Valley. Another 19 percent of the job will be performed in Bath, Maine, with the balance in Pittsfield, Mass.
Shares of General Dynamics trade on the New York Stock Exchange as GD.
The Naval Sea Systems Command of Washington, D.C. awarded the contract, which calls for design acceleration and contract design engineering support.
The Navy is splitting design work of its LX(R) ship between NASSCO and a competitor, Huntington Ingalls Industries.
Amphibious ships carry U.S. Marines, their landing craft and other gear used in amphibious landings.
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The Navy plans to buy 11 LX(R) ships to replace the Whidbey Island- and Harpers Ferry-class dock landing ships (which the Navy gave the unfortunate name of LSD). The LX(R) ships will be similar to the new San Antonio-class amphibious ships, according to a white paper by the Congressional Research Service.
Procurement is set to start in fiscal 2020 but the Navy might buy the first of its LX(R)s in 2019, according to a news article from the U.S. Naval Institute, which is a publisher independent of the Navy.
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