A Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE: HII) division has won a $76.8 million contract to acquire components for the U.S. Coast Guard’s seventh national security cutter intended for maritime security missions.
Ingalls Shipbuilding will procure Kimball’s steel, main propulsion systems, generators, electrical switchboards and major castings, said Friday.
Kimball is one of seven cutters aimed to help the Coast Guard run maritime homeland security, law enforcement, marine safety, environmental protection and national defense missions.
“This advance procurement contract allows us to maintain production line and supplier base momentum while we prepare for the ship construction contract, ” said Jim French, Ingalls’ NSC program manager.
Lockheed Martin will install C4ISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) technologies in the cutter.
Huntington Ingalls has handed three NSCs to the Coast Guard and Hamilton, the fourth cutter, is scheduled to launch later in 2013 with the christening slated for Oct. 26.
The company has also fixed the keel on the fifth cutter named James and aims to start constructing the sixth ship, Munro, later this year.
National security cutters are 418 feet long and contain a 54-foot beam with 4, 500 tons full capacity, 28 knots top speed, 12, 000 miles range, 60-day endurance and 110-man crews, Huntington Ingalls says.
