PASCAGOULA, Miss., June 30, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Huntington Ingalls Industries' (NYSE:HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding division today received an $76.5 million fixed-price contract from the U.S. Coast Guard to purchase long-lead materials for the eighth National Security Cutter, Midgett (WMSL 757). Construction and delivery of Midgett would take place at the company's Pascagoula facility.
"The long-lead material contracts give our shipbuilders the ability to immediately start construction of the ship if and when that contract is awarded," said Jim French, Ingalls' National Security Cutter program manager. "The advance procurement helps us get the best cost possible for equipment and materials and keeps the industrial base production line flowing. Our learning curve continues to improve with each ship we build, and the advance procurement helps continue that curve."
The advance procurement funds will be used to purchase major items for Midgett, including steel, the main propulsion systems, generators, electrical switchboards and major castings.
National Security Cutters, the flagships of the Coast Guard's cutter fleet, are designed to replace the 378‐foot Hamilton-class high-endurance cutters, which entered service during the 1960s. Ingalls has delivered the first three National Security Cutters. The fourth, Hamilton (WMSL 753), will have builder's sea trials later this summer. The fifth, James (WMSL 754), recently launched and will be christened in August, and the keel for the sixth NSC, Munro (WMSL 755), will be laid later this year.
NSCs are 418 feet long with a 54-foot beam and displace 4,500 tons with a full load. They have a top speed of 28 knots, a range of 12,000 miles, an endurance of 60 days and a crew of 120.
The Legend-class NSC is capable of meeting all maritime security mission needs required of the high-endurance cutter. The cutter includes an aft launch and recovery area for two rigid hull inflatable boats and a flight deck to accommodate a range of manned and unmanned rotary wing aircraft. It is the largest and most technologically advanced class of cutter in the Coast Guard, with robust capabilities for maritime homeland security, law enforcement, marine safety, environmental protection and national defense missions. The Legend-class of cutters plays an important role in enhancing the Coast Guard's operational readiness, capacity and effectiveness at a time when the demand for their services has never been greater.
Statements in this release, other than statements of historical fact, constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed in these statements. Factors that may cause such differences include the U.S. Coast Guard's award of the construction contract for Midgett and other risk factors discussed in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. There may be other risks and uncertainties that we are unable to predict at this time or that we currently do not expect to have a material adverse effect on our business, and we undertake no obligations to update any forward-looking statements.
About Huntington Ingalls Industries
Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) designs, builds and maintains nuclear and non-nuclear ships for the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard and provides after-market services for military ships around the globe. For more than a century, HII has built more ships in more ship classes than any other U.S. naval shipbuilder at its Newport News Shipbuilding and Ingalls Shipbuilding divisions. Employing more than 39,000 in Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana and California, HII also provides a wide variety of products and services to the commercial energy industry and other government customers, including the Department of Energy. For more information, visit:
- HII on the web: hii.com
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