Pentagon awards HII $187 million contract for advance planning, CVN-74 midlife refueling

The Pentagon awarded a $187 million advance planning contract on Aug. 10 to Huntington Ingalls Industries for the refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) of the aircraft carrier John C. Stennis (CVN-74), according to a Defense Department statement.

The contract includes the first year of advance planning efforts and a wide range of materials and studies required to complete the refueling, according to the DOD statement.

"The planning stage is critically important to the overall success of an engineering and construction project of this magnitude," said Chris Miner, vice president of in-service aircraft carrier programs at HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding division, the shipyard that will execute the work.

"This contract allows us to prepare for each step in the overhaul process from preparing for the ship’s arrival at Newport News to its redelivery back to the Navy," he said.

The RCOH is scheduled to begin in January 2021, according to Navy budget documents.

The Navy last year postponed Stennis' midlife refueling by 10 months due to fleet needs and the workload at Newport News Shipbuilding, Inside the Navy reported.