Navy awards HII $687 million contract for 'early service life' work on Ford-class lead ship

The Navy yesterday issued Huntington Ingalls Industries a contract award worth up to $687 million for "early service life period work" for the lead ship in the Ford class of aircraft carriers.

"The purpose of this contract is to support ship repair and modernization during continuous incremental availabilities, planned incremental availabilities, full-ship shock trials and continuous maintenance and emergent maintenance during the ship's early service life period," the announcement reads.

"This contract includes five ordering periods totaling 60 months, with a maximum order value of $687,090,000," it continues.

According to the announcement, HII is slated to finish work on the five orders by June 2024. The Gerald Ford (CVN-78) is the lead ship in its class.