HII wins contract to design and build US Navy LHA 9 ship

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding division has received detail, design and construction contract for the US Navy’s America-class amphibious assault ship LHA 9.

The fixed-price incentive contract has an estimated value of $2.4 billion, along with additional options.

If all options are exercised, the cumulative value of the award will increase to $3.2 billion.

According to the US Department of Defense (DoD) messageNaval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) serves as the contracting activity.

Construction of LHA 9 will begin in December this year and is scheduled to be completed by September 2029.

The Defense Department noted that this period will be extended to March 2031 if the US Navy exercises additional contract options.

The Company will perform related work primarily at its facility in Pascagoula, Mississippi, USA.

HII Ingalls Shipbuilding President Cary Wilkinson said, “We understand the importance of this work and are honored to be given the opportunity to provide this capability to the fleet.

“We value our partnership with the Navy and all of our important supplier partners.”

The latest deal builds on the original contract to provide long-term materiel, engineering and design support for the US LHA 9-class amphibious assault helicopter (LHA).

This initial award in 2020 was followed by other contract modifications that were awarded to HII over the past two years.

So far, the company has delivered about 15 large-deck ships to the US Navy, including the Tarawa LHA-class ships 1 to 5 and the Wasp LHD-class ships 1 to 8.

HII also completed the delivery of two America-class ships USS America (LHA-6) and USS Tripoli (LHA-7), while construction of another ship, Bougainville (LHA 8), is currently underway.