Huntington Ingalls Wins $46M Contract, World's Largest 5-Axis Saw Put to Use

PASCAGOULA, Miss., Dec. 2, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) today announced that the company’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division has been awarded an advance procurement contract for work on the U.S. Navy’s third Zumwalt-class destroyer, DDG 1002. The contract is valued at $46 million, with the majority of the work taking place at the company’s Composite Center of Excellence in Gulfport.

“Strategically, this is a very important contract to our company and specifically to the composite shipbuilders working in Gulfport,” said Karrie Trauth, Ingalls Shipbuilding’s DDG 1000 program manager. “The Gulfport facility is a national asset in terms of composite capability and capacity. Our shipbuilders continue to prove this on a daily basis with the significant work they are performing in composites for U.S. Navy shipbuilding programs. With this funding, we can prepare our facility and provide the necessary resources for our talented shipbuilders to continue working on these complex products.”

The funding for this contract allows Ingalls to purchase material and equipment in support of DDG 1002 advanced construction activities, as well as provide engineering and production support services. Ingalls is already building the deckhouse, hangar and peripheral vertical launch systems for DDG 1000 and DDG 1001.

The deckhouse for DDG 1000 is expected to be delivered in the second quarter of 2012.

The Ingalls Composite Center of Excellence is home to the world’s largest numerically controlled, five-axis saw capable of sawing, drilling and milling very large composite components to highly accurate tolerances. Located on 125 acres with access to water, rail and highway transportation links, the center has more than 322,000 square feet of manufacturing space (5.6 football fields) with 253,000 square feet (4.5 football fields) that is environmentally controlled. It has the only U.S. Department of Labor Composite Apprentice Program and is a certified OSHA Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) Star Site.

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. Employing nearly 38,000 in Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana and California, its primary business divisions are Newport News Shipbuilding and Ingalls Shipbuilding.