Huntington Ingalls Industries and the US Navy expect to finalise a single-phase delivery contract modification for aircraft carrier John F Kennedy by early 2022. (Michael Fabey)
Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) and the US Navy (USN) should finalise the single-phase delivery contract modification for aircraft carrier John F Kennedy (CVN 79) by early next year, according to Chris Kastner, HII chief operating officer.
“Regarding the sensitisation of a single-phase delivery contract modification, we have reached agreement on a cost and schedule impacts with the navy and expect to execute the contract modification late this year, or early next year,” Kastner told investment analysts during a 4 November earnings call.
Kennedy , being built at the HII Newport News Shipbuilding yard in Virginia, is approximately 84% complete, Kastner said. Initially, the yard and the USN had agreed to a dual-phase delivery – delivering the hull, superstructure, and most major systems in 2022, and then delivering the combat systems and the remaining ship systems about two years later. The split delivery was meant to save on combat system update costs, estimated to be approximately USD1 billion.
However, USN and yard officials opted to change the contract during the Covid-19 pandemic and after the US Congress required Kennedy to be revamped to accommodate Lockheed Martin F-35C Joint Strike Fighters.
Speaking about the modification, Kastner said, “It's obviously an increase in the top line for that shift, but it also extends the risk retirement events out a couple of years because it extends the test programme.”
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